THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
b
THE NATURAL HISTORY
OF IMMORTALITY
"When we once know those exceedingly great and precious things
which are freely given unto us, love is thereupon largely shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost ; under the influence of which we are
free and happy, all-affecting workmen, overcomers of all tribulation,
the servants of our neighbours and yet nevertheless lords of all things.*'
— Luther on Christian Liberty.
THE NATURAL HISTORY
OF
IMMORTALITY
BY
JOSEPH WILLIAM REYNOLDS, M.A.
RECTOR OF SS. ANNE AND AGNES WITH ST. JOHN ZACHARY
GRESHAM STREET, LONDON
PREBENDARY OF ST. PAUL's CATHEDRAL
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST i6th STREET
1891
{^All rights reserved)
" We assume, not that we are intruding by our own reason into the
awful secrets of the Divine nature, but that God has been graciously
pleased to reveal His nature and His will to us, in a certain measure,
and under certain limitations . . . the Christian faith reveals the pro-
foundest truths ever opened to human ken, those who reject such an
illumination must condemn themselves to a proportionately profound
darkness." — Prebendary Wage, The Foundations of Faith ^ Bamptoft
Lectures, pp. 66, 67.
"Thought is never satisfied with what it has gained, nor has it ever
to weep because there are no new realms to conquer. Like the gods of
the Indian legend, it dives downward and soars upward for ever, and
yet the reality which it surveys stretches infinitely beyond through all
eternity."— Alfred Barry, D.D., D.C.L., Manifold Witness for
Christ, ch. iv. p. 261.
8r^
^3^
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND
FREDERICK TEMPLE, D.D,
LORD BISHOP OF LONDON.
My Lord,
I thankfully, with your permission, dedicate this work to you.
You are aware that experimenters in Physiology disconnect the
nerves, or remove from an animal that portion of the brain which puts
to use the animal's sensation of sight. The animal continues to live
and to see, but sees as not seeing ; he does not and cannot avoid
hurtful obstacles, but dashes against them to his own injury.
I humbly endeavour to rescue those doubters who say, **We can't
believe;" and to rebuke those unbelievers who say, "We won't
believe ; " that they may escape from that Evil One who blinds " the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the Glorious Gospel
should shine unto them. "
Dealing with unwonted themes, strangest marvels, Demons and
Demonology, Dreams, and Healing by Faith and Prayer, I respectfully
show that the most advanced Science ends with phenomena ; touches
not those realities of which the phenomena are representative ; and
thus leaves us to face them as best we may. These realities, the
universal conscience, intuitions, moral and mental functions of mankind,
do everywhere apprehend.
It seems well to show the prudent and temperate view of our
Church as to these marvels, lest the minds of men, weary of the
unbelief and materialism of false teachers, fall into superstitions not
less gross.
I would that my efforts were more worthy of presentation to one
whose learning and experience are so well known and honoured.
I remain, my Lord,
Your most obedient and humble servant,
JOSEPH WILLIAM REYNOLDS.
a 2
** O God of unchangeable power, and eternal light, look favourably
on Thy whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery ; and by the
tranquil operation of Thy perpetual Providence, carry out the work of
man's salvation; and let the whole world feel and see that things
which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown
old are being made new, and all things are returning to perfection
through Him, from whom they took their origin, even through our
Lord Jesus Christ." — Gelasian, Ancient Collect,
** Christ compared Himself to a king who kept open house . . .
almost all the genuine worth and virtue of the nation was gathered into
the Christian Church." — Ecce Hot?io, 5th Edit., part i. p. 59.
CONTENTS.
I.
Preliminary Facts.
PAGE
I
I
Raising Life to a Higher Level
Past Discoveries Warrant Great Expectations
Theologians becoming more Accurate ; the Scientific more Devout 2
2
3
No Conflict between Religion and Science . ...
Physical Science advancing our Knowledge of Scripture
Application of Scientific Methods to the Higher Facts of Religion 4
Abandonment, Partial, of Physical Theories as to Mass ... 4
„ ,, as to Atoms Evolved from Mass ... 5
,, ,, as to Continuity without Break .... 6
Great Fact received by all : Visible Things are Emblems ... 6
II.
The Higher Service of Man.
Life's Evils not of Easy Cure 8
The Ancients Looked Back to a Golden Age 9
We Look for a Great Future 9
Our Feeling as to Eternal Things a Parable of God . . . . 10
How we are Carried to Something Beyond 10
Our Picturing of the Best Man 11
The Great Life, a Reality ..ii
Perfection the Embodied Thought of God 12
Adam, Image of a Divine Idea ; Christ was that Idea Realized . 12
Greek Notions of the Sublime and Beautiful 13
Our own Spirit's Thought as to the Natural and Supernatural Perfect 13
A Boundless Possibility of Existence and Service 14
viii CONTENTS.
III.
The World's Governing Power.
PAGE
What we are Depends upon the World's Governing Power . . 15
Power is Known, and the Law of Mechanical Force . . . . 15
Things known solely by their Interactions and Mutual Relations . 16
The Physical knows nothing of Essentials and Causes .... 16
Historical View " • ... 16
Assertions of Scientific Men not always verifiable 17
Matter is not known apart from Force, nor is Force known apart
from Matter 17
Mechanical Force does not fully interpret the Phenomena of the
Universe 18
Mere Mechanical Displacements of a Primal Homogeneous Mass
would not change the quantity and quality 19
The Eternal Power is more than Nature 20
Mental and Moral Power lead to Acknowledgment of the Higher
Rule 22
IV.
The Highest Aim and Attainment of Man.
Perfection in Every Thing 24
The Moral of Religious Teaching 25
The Aim of every Life 25
Enforced by Natural Facts 25
The Perfect Man 26
That to which we are being led 26
Looking into a Glass 26
Lesson from the Eye 27
Godlessness Works Dangerous Conceits 28
Secular Moralist's Aim : Enlargement of it 28
Fellow- Workers with God 20
V.
Christ, and our Following on Whither PIe Is.
The Youngest Day of Eternity . . '31
The World's most Glorious Being ' ' 31
The Perfecting of Human Nature in Him 32
The Divinity of His Person ' .' 33
CONTENTS, i%
PAGE
The Mystery is Known Somewhat , 34
A Special and General Truth : Concentration as to the Universe . 35
Our own Growth even into Divine Sonship 36
High Gradations of Men by Divine Power 36
Mystery of the Divine Nature Wrought in Human Nature ... 36
The Crowning Glory 37
High Place and Service : Noblest Times and Noblest Work . . 37
VI.
Going Beyond the Visible.
Light Sufficient, and Darkness, for all who will 39
None Born Perfectly Good nor Wholly Bad 39
Reading Men's Countenances 40
Genius and Natural Aptitude : No Favouritism 40
Opinions of Sir Frederick Leighton and Sir John E. Millais . . 40
Natural and Moral Laws : Present and Future 41
Selective Providence 42
Rudimentary Organs, so called, are Relics 42
Small in the Great and Great in the Small 42
The Ungodly Miss a Great Gain 43
Seemingly Wrong may be Really Right 44
Material and other Mischances 44
VH.
The Natural History of our Immortality : Truthfulness
OF OUR Faculties.
Materials of the History 46
The Work is wrought with an Art partly Hidden and partly Known 46
It is Indicated by the Law and Order of the Universe .... 47
It is Dangerous to Neglect this Teaching, and the Verifying of it
is our Duty and Privilege 47
That which is Essential to a Man 48
Discerning the Future of Individuals and of Nations .... 48
The Lesson to be Learned by the Natural History of the Future . 48
Physical Laws are not more Precise than those of Life and Mind
infer use of Reason 49
Reasonable Liberty : Four Aspects of Power 50
All Existences are Adapted to their State and Place .... 50
Further and Larger Adaptation Exceeding Present Uses . . . 51
X CONTENTS,
PAGE
The Scientific Application of our Faculties is Nature's and our
own Stamp of Correctness 5^
Present and Future give Proof of a Coming Time 52
The Great Example as to use of our Powers 53
VIII.
The Natural History of our Immortality : Physical
Facts Thereof.
Deal not with Facts Treated of by other Men 54
The Ideal and Perfect are always Beyond us : a Straight Line . 55
Low Level of Superstition Raised to High Knowledge . . • • 55
Lesson from the Point of a Needle 56
Everlastingness in Brevities 5^
Common Things are Full of Wonder 5^
Existence not the Sparkling Phantasm of a Moment .... 56
Duverney and a Carp 57
Instinctive Powers and those of Newton : a Fly and a Bee . . 58
Life's Consciousness goes Beyond all Phenomena 58
The Infinite Universe not Altogether to God : We Enjoy it too . 58
Nature and All in it Intertwisted and Combined by Providence . 59
All Things Grow as our Knowledge Gro>vs 59
Language and Meaning of Nature 60
Our Persuasion as to a Future Life 60
Nature not a Bolt of Nothing Shot at Nothing 61
A Stream from Eternity to Eternity 6 1
IX.
The Natural History of our Immortality: Physical
Symbols Thereof.
Symbols, What they Are and their Meaning 63
Mental Senses, even as Physical, based on Reality 64
The Universe a vast Symbol of God and Greater Life .... 64
Holy Scripture gives Highest Meaning to Nature 65
Gradations of Advance 65
The Eye and our Senses and all Things part of a great Unity . . 65
Language, Thought made Vocal, a Help to Immortality ... 66
Light, a Shadow of the Deity 67
The Meaning of a Blind Man made to see not Knowing his own
Limbs 68
CONTENTS. xi
PAGE
Existing Laws Testify as a Natural History of the Future ... 68
The Great Factors in the Natural Advance 69
Death Calls us to more Life and Fuller 70
X.
The Natural History of our Immortality: Threefold
Existence.
Man's Triple Character 72
In Relation to Three Modes of Life 72
Is Conditioned for Earthly Intermediate and Heavenly Life . . 73
The Natural History Embraces the whole Threefold State ... 74
The Bodily Existence : Reasons for it 74
The Intermediate State : Rather of Condition than of Locality . 75
For Advance of Knowledge 75
Specially as to a Higher State of Laws 75
A Growth towards Noble State 76
Disbelief of this should be Removed . 76
The Heavenly Condition : Not Destruction, but Reproduction . ^^
A New Consorting, and of what 77
XI.
The Natural History of our Immortality : Leading
Principles.
First Principle : The Cause of all is the Eternal.
The Histories of Nature and Men are a Biography of the
Eternal 79
Second Principle : The Eternal is a Person.
The Two Principles are Universal 80
Third Principle : The Process in Complex.
The Nature of the Process 81
Records of it are Everywhere 81
Reproduction of the Past 81
This Proceeds to Give Account of itself in the Future . . 81
Fourth Principle : Process is Universal.
Three Facts Connect the Present with the Future .... 82
Fifth Principle : Human Advance.
Our Intellectual and Vital Conception of the Universe a
Guarantee of Immortality . 82
Conditions of Mind that Grasp this 83
xii CONTENTS,
PAGE
A Little Exercise in these High Conditions 84
Two Experiences of the Supernatural 84
Language, its Advantages as to Thought and Life .... 85
The Highest Style of Mind 86
xn.
The Natural History of our Immortality : Prospective
Enlargement of Powers.
The Earth is Cradle of our Existence 87
We Trace the Fact of our Going Somewhere 88
Pushing Aside the Veil which Suggests yet Conceals the Future . 88
Viewing the Past for an Insight of the Future 89
P\iture Life Based on Inner and Outer Facts 90
The Natural Prepares for the Spiritual 9^
We are like the Sun 92
The Mutual Action of Body and Mind 92
The Fleshy Substance Made a Spiritual Substance 93
Sight and Foresight Vision and Prevision 94
Expansion of all our Faculties 94
XIII.
The Natural History of our Immortality: Further
Enlargement of Powers.
Interpreting Unknown Tongues 96
Outer and Inner Revelations of the Unseen 97
Cannot Rid Ourselves of the Miraculous 97
The Past not wholly Past, nor Future only Future 98
Continual Enlargement of our Powers 99
Natural Transition is a Supernatural Narrative 99
Man's Natural Passage into another Stage is a Prophecy . . .100
Entering this Life not less a Marvel than our Entering Another . 100
The Most Perfect Ideas are Clean-cut and Clear loi
No Instantaneous Total Change loi
The Meaning of our Internal and External Character .... 102
Our Present Nature Submitted to a Naturalist 103
Bodily Faculty not Commensurate with the Spiritual . . . .103
The Influence of Hope 104
Our Sovereign Faculties are neither Deceived nor Deceivers . .105
The Finite Exceeds its Finitude 105
CONTENTS, xiii
XIV.
Visions and Dreams as Glimpses of Immortality.— I.
PAGE
The Faculty of Imagination io8
To be Guided Discreetly 109
Every Man the Only Man of his Sort 109
Seeing of Wonders in Common Things 109
Thoughts and Dreams of Men Greatly Wondered at .... no
Dreams, Ordinarily, are Valueless ill
A Mystery in Dreams: not Dream as you Wish 112
Can we Make Use of Dreams ? 112
May be of more Value in Dreams than when Awake . . . . 1 13
Should Carry Thought and Imagination to Perfection . . . . 1 14
Prospective View of our Future Dwelling 115
XV.
Visions and Dreams as Glimpses of Immortality. — II.
Some Causes of Dreams 116
In what Respect Dreams are Prophecies of Nature . . . . 117
Dream of Gennadius, the Sceptic .117
Dreams, as an Argument for Immortality 118
Soul Feels, Thinks, Acts, Apart from the Body 118
Not every Dreamer a Saint, nor yet a Prophet . . . . . . 119
Dreams a Testimony 120
One Dream, Certified, a Sufficient Proof 120
Dreams not always a Resuscitation of Thoughts 120
Power of Mind in and over Matter 121
Trivial Dreams to Match Trivial Thoughts 122
Interesting Fact as to Dreams • 123
XVI.
The Sacred History of Dreams. — I.
Fellowship a Necessity of our Nature 124
Man, not Accept a God of Measurements and Calculations . . 124
He is Led by Mind to Mind 125
Either by Intuition or Experience 125
In what Manner we Study 125
Abirnelech's Dream 125
Hints as to Discerning Truth of Dreams 126
b
xiv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Dream of Jacob, as Wanderer 126
Dream of Jacob, as to Coming Prosperity 127
Application of these to the Mysteries in Ourselves .... 127
Dreams of Joseph ^28
Dreams of Pharaoh's Butler and Baker, and of Pharaoh . . . 128
These Dreams were Parts in one Plan 129
Analogous Beauties and Powers in Ourselves 13^
Krummacher Gives a Legend of Adam ^2P
All Things Touch the Miraculous : thus we have a Natural His-
tory of Immortality 131
XVII.
The Sacred History of Dreams.— II.
Best Guard as to Superstition 133
Midianite's, Solomon's, Nebuchadnezzar's Dreams .... 134
Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream : a Rebuke and Warning . . 134
Daniel the Dream Interpreter 135
Dream of Joseph, as to the Immaculate Conception ; of the Wise
Men, of Joseph as to Egypt, of Pilate's Wife . . . . 135
God's Marvellous Interferences 136
A Hell Club and Dream 137
The Victim : a Warning 137
Power Greater than all Powers 138
XVIII.
The School of Satan.
Count De Lavallette's Dream — March of the Dead . . . . 140
The Facts Represented 141
Christ and Satan, Appearance and Reappearance 141
Satanic Assault on Christ 142
How such Assault was Possible 142
Apparent Defeat passes into Reality of Victory 143
Scholars in the School of Satan 143
Sacred Testimony against them and their Master 145
Satanic Existence, a Reality 145
Why is Satan allowed to Exist ? 1 46
Warnings against him 146
Dreams, a Touchstone of Morals 147
The Worker of Good and the Worker of Evil 148
CONTENTS. XV
PAGE
On Losing the Power to do Good and to Think aright . . . 148
Narrowness of Unbelievers 149
Cultured Unbelievers' Error 149
XIX.
Casting Out Devils.
The Natural and Supernatural Point of Contact 151
General and Particular Government 151
The Supernatural Made Visible 152
Supernatural Linking 152
Maleficent Power 153
Reality of Evil Power 153
Personal Opposition to Christ '154
Triple Narrative of Gadara or Gergesa 155
Facts Proving the Possession 155
Further Facts 155
Destruction of the Swine 156
Proof that the Man was Possessed 156
The Swine-Feeders prove the Miracle 157
The General Refusers of Miracles 158
XX.
The History of Satan : Introduction.
Not a Balancing of the Doubtful Against the More Doubtful . . 159
Every Thing touches the Mysterious 160
Good and Evil Represent Conflicts 160
Good and Evil : Fourfold 161
Shakespeare and Milton stated Great Truths 161
Evil threw the Course of Nature out of Gear 162
Evil that is seen Represents the more Malignant Unseen . . . 163
Satan, a Personal Name 163
The World a Tangled Maze 164
Every one of us has a Devil about Him 164
A Touch of God Works Wonderfully 165
The World, as it is, Very Beautiful 165
XXL
The Larger Hope — Existence and Nature of Satan.
Strife to Attain Higher Life . 166
Good Obtained by Abnegation of Evil ' 167
xvi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Glimpses of High Control in Nature 167
Testimony as to this 167
A Lesson Everywhere 168
The Work of Satan 168
His Existence a Fact of Nature, of Science, of Philosophy . . 169
Nature of Satan : His Personality 169
Served and Worshipped as a Personal Devili 170
He is a Spirit and was of High Dignity 171
Remarkable Statements by Ezekiel I7i~4
The Mystery of Ungodliness and Personality of Evil with Elucida-
tion in a Grander Life I74
xxn.
Answer from Behind the Veil— The Power of Satan.
The Corsican Brothers : A Mystery 176
Satan's Influence Differs in Degree, rather than Kind, from our own 177
Spiritual Presentiment 177
The Hypnotic State 178
The Working and Authority of Satan 178
Satan's Men, " Worthships and Worships Unworshipful " . . 179
Christ gives Mastery to Men 179
Satan only Prevalent by Human Will Consenting 180
Cleverness of Some Wicked Ones 180
Satan Acts through an Evil Host 181
Best and Greatest Men Believe in Satanic Existence . . . . 181
Satan and Angels even now are Degraded 182
Good Work Done against Him 183
Prince and Possessor of this World 183
A Bond-Breaker and Setter at Variance 184
Can Act against a Sinless Nature 184
Present Conflict will end in the Universal Reign of Good . . 185
XXHI.
The Low Verge of Life : Possession by Demons.
Possession of one by another a General Fact 186
Possession Material and Spiritual 186
Man is of a Threefold Nature 187
He Became a Castaway 187
Our Present Evils a Challenge to Manliness 187
We are in Relation to Two Worlds 188
CONTENTS. xvii
PAGE
Three Theories as to Possession by Demons 189
I. Only a Symbol or Figure of Evil 189
II. A Superstition of the Jews 190
III. A Terrible Reality 190
Possession not the same as Temptation 191
Report, Standard Newspaper 191
Possessed Men not always great Sufferers ....... 192
Not, Necessarily, the Worst Men • 193
Inordinately Wicked Men not always Demoniacs 194
Orestes and Hamlet 194
State of Demoniacs 194
Twofold Existence, Report of 195
Disorders may tend to Possession 198
[esus a Controller of the Evil Ones 198
All Evil is being Overruled to a greater Good 199
Fable of St. Anthony 200
XXIV.
Procurers to the Lords of Hell : Demons.
Derivation of Word, Demon 202
Use of the Word 202
Denial of Demon Existences 203
Two Reported Falls of Spiritual Beings 203
Two Sorts of Powers in Nature and in Men 204
Nine Sorts of Bad Spirits 204
Every Evil in Nature a Manifestation of Evil Power .... 205
Gospel Statement as to Spiritual Evil Beings 205
Prevalent Jewish Belief 206
Agents in Satanic Work 206
Physical Science, not able to Investigate, does not deny the
Supernatural 207
All in the World Representative of What is Beyond .... 208
Men are Travellers to another State 208
Longfellow's Translation of St. Francis Xavier's Hymn . . . 209
XXV.
The Man Possessed by Seven Devils.
Belief has fewer Difficulties than Unbelief 210
The Person and Nature of Christ 210
xviii CONTENTS.
PAGB
The Narrative is of a Fact 2il
A Wicked Man, the Devil's Palace 212
Wanderings of the Expelled Spirit and Return to Garnished
Dwelling 212
Evil not a stress of Crooked Circumstances 213
Is it by our Ill-combining of Good Things ? 213
Access of Evil Ones to Nature and Men 214
Not a Law of Nature that we must do Wrong . . . . . • 214
The Ruin Dire, the Battle Great 214
XXVI.
Devils Entering the Sv^ine. — I.
One Central Evil, One Central Good 216
Old Testament as to Origin of Evil 217
New^ Testament Confirmation thereof 217
Jesus did not Pander to a Jewish Delusion 217
Men are not Devils, nor was Adam the first Devil 218
A Remarkable Scene in Proof of This . 219
Where the Miracle was Wrought 219
The Gospel Narrative 220
Evil Spirits Constrained by Power of Christ 220
Unbelief is a Sin ; Christ's Word must be Believed . . . .221
Unbelief, due in part to petty Cleverness 222
Physical and Mental Malady 222
Startling Wonders come continually into View 223
XXVII.
Devils Entering The Swine.— II.
Real Cause of Unbelief as to the Wicked One 224
Truth, Better than Error, not to be Dealt with Roughly . . . 224
The Evil an Interruption to be Done Away With 225
Evil from more than a Human Source : Unity of Evil Power . 225
Realityof our Better Selves 225
Old Objections Refurbished 226
Destruction of the Swine 226
The Occurrence Incredible ? 227
Supported by more than Credible Evidence .... 227
The Belief a Grovelling Superstition : Not so 228
Men even are entered by a Swinish Spirit .... 228
CONTENTS, xix
PAGE
Opinions of the Good and Great of the World, of Space, of the
Stars, of the Galaxies, of Spirits 229
Natural History of our Life Accords with these Opinions . . . 230
Our Setting out on a new Career 230
A True Tabernacle in us of the Living God, and sometimes a
Shadowed Mind 231
The Earth a Cradle for our Infant Spirits, a Glimpse at their
Completeness 231
Soon have Entrance to the Supreme Realities . . . . . . 232
XXVIIL
Divine Healing a Universal Principle.
All Things Pass into Death 233
Nay : all Things Change, but do not Die 233
Untying the Knot 234
Fac-simile of the World's Procedure 234
All Mysteries are Being Interpreted 234
Things are Wrought in Continuance by Eternal Power . . . 235
Our own Body in Especial 235
Wandering Stars are Corrected 236
Chemical Work 236
Lesson in Biology 236
Fact in Moral Philosophy 236
Other Paths into the same Truth 237
Differences in Work 237
The Material Side of Nature 237
Our own Personal Life . 238
XXIX.
The Supernatural Healing of Sickness.
A Brazilian Forest 239
Paradox of Silence and Sound 239
Strange Influences are Natural : The Enigma Near the Solution
Far 240
Our Intellectual Light : Further Relations 240
They are Proofs of our Susceptibility to Weird Influences . . 242
Jesus the Conqueror of Death 242
Healings are Variously Wrought ......... 243
XX CONTENTS,
PAGE
Are Meant to Fit us for the Powers of Divine Presence . . . 244
Present Life Concerns the Earthly and Heavenly Future . . . 245
We Have not less a Moral than a Material Heritage .... 246
Christ's Miracle of Self-Sacrifice Confers Miraculous Perfection . 246
Future Effects on us of the Healing Miracles 247
XXX.
Divine Healing in the Old Testament.
God is the Great Healer 249
Evil seems Universal in Creation 249
Controlling and Remedial Powers 249
Research Discovers Preventives and Cures 250
Many-sided Evidence wide as the Universe 250
Features Discerned of the Healing Process 251
Divinely Laid Stepping Stones 251
Writings in Nature are as Cuneiform Inscriptions 252
We are taught more clearly in Scripture 252
The Two-sortedness of Things 253
The Fault of Evil Men 253
We are being led on to the Cure : Examples 253
The Pre-eminent Healer 255
The Gladdening One 255
Jesus Looking Down on Us 256
XXXL
Divine Healing in the New Testament.
Jesus Christ the Greatest of all Healers 258
Considered as to Space with the Worlds therein 259
Christ's Supernatural Daily Work 259
Divine Healings are Frequent now 260
Disease not Healing is the Unnatural Thing 260
Marvels in a Cubic Inch of Air, God Acts Slowly, Christ Works
Marvellously . 260
Is Premature Death quite in Order? 261
Not less Natural to Awake the Dead than for the Dead to Die . 261
Why is not Divine Healing more Openly Displayed ? ... 262
Miracles of Elijah and of Jesus 262
CONTENTS, ^xi
PAGE
The apparent Failure of Miracles, Men's own Fault .... 263
Divine Healing more Frequent than Men think 264
The Promise accompanying the Command to Preach was Fulfilled 264
All the World Looking on 264
Healings are by Powers given to the Church 264
Directions as to the Use of Healing Power 265
The Neglect to Use these Directions 265
By Divine Healing our Life is made a Divine Life .... 266
This Healing not a Gift of Earthly Immortality 267
A Whole Christ Centralized in every Believer 267
How we Apprehend This : Centralizations 267
The Final Result, a Grand Consolation 268
XXXIL
Popular Objections as to Healing by Faith.
Statement of the Case 270
L Objection: If Faith can Heal, why do Men Die ? . ... 271
Reply : Faith is exercised to Preserve from Untimely Death 271
II. Objection ; If Believing does all, why Work ? 272
Reply : Good Gifts to Good Men do not make them Bad . 272
Grace given to Use them Aright 272
III. Objection : Cases of Failure 273
Reply : They inculcate various Lessons 273
IV. Objection : The Power is not now Exercised 274
Reply : The Gift is Used, and was never Obsolete . . . 274
It is Extraordinary for Extraordinary Use 275
Divine Healing Rests on Definite Principles 275
I. Evil is not Natural and is to be Taken Away .... 275
II. In Disease there is more than our skill detects . . . 276
III. Healing and Redemption Belong to all Ages . . . 276
God's Servants, by Use of these Gifts, are to show Unbelievers
that God is with His People 277
XXXIIL
Limitations of Divine Healing.
I. Limitations are by the Divine Will 278
II. Limitations by Grades of Existence 278
III. Limitations are by Divine Purpose as to Men's Future Use . 279
xxii CONTENTS,
PAGE
IV. Limitations tend to Harmony and Completeness of the Uni-
versal Plan 280
V. Limitations are Preventions of Unnatural Exploits . . . 281
Summary of these Limitations 281
The Providence of God Accords the Limitations of God . . . 282
Musing as to the Lost 283
Thought as to Setting Aside of all Restrictions 284
XXXIV.
Application of Science and Philosophy.
Verification by Facts 286
General Acceptance of Supernatural Cures 287
Higher Experiences in Christian Life 287
Mode of Proof for the Inquiring 288
I. Daily Evidence of Divine Healing 288
Exercise of the Senses 288
Contact of Things Seen and Unseen 288
Thought as to Wilful Men 289
The Conflict of Good and Evil 290
II. Confirmed by Scientific Investigation 290
1st Step : As to Nature of the Processes 290
2nd Step : Magnetic Conditions 291
3rd Step : Influencing Patients 291
4th Step : States of Consciousness 292
A Grander Fact : High Spiritual Condition 292
The Material and Mental in Relation to the Spiritual .... 292
Facts as to the Origin of Diseases 293
Further Facts 293
Diseases become more Complicated 294
Curious Sequels of Influenza 294
Sleeping Twenty Days 295
All Known Causes go back to the Beginning 295
Why Certain Things Heal is not Known 295
Facts Carry Hypothesis into Certainty 296
XXXV.
Further Application of Philosophy and Science.
What We Learn in the Pathway of Experience 297
Of a destructive and Restoring Power 297
CONTENTS. xxiii
PAGE
What is Discerned in the Orderliness of Nature ? 298
That there is Something Great to Do . 298
Great Concentrations 299
Examination as to Reality of our Position 299
Linking of the World to the Indestructible 300
Do We Learn of Supernatural Cures? 301
Yes, in the Saving and in Losing of Life ...... 301
Objection : Age of Miracles is Past 301
No Warrant for that Saying 301
Natural Secrets Indicative of a Higher Good 302
Trying to Find the Instruction 302
In Mental and Sentient Powers 302
Physical and Psychological Experiments 303
Need of Sound-Mindedness 303
Higher States of it, and the Powers 304
Concentration in Scientific Achievement 305
The Universe is more than a Mechanism, more than an Organism 305
Scientific Philosophical and Religious Men : their Characteristic
Work 306
The Base of Reasonable Faith 306
XXXVL
Conditions of Power as to Faith-Healing.
Man is a Miniature of Nature 308
The Head and Heart of our Earth 309
Appearances of the First and Second Man 309
We are all Represented in those Two 310
Power of the Great Healer— His Gift of that Power . . . .310
The Healing Process is Twofold 310
Conditions as to Healing 3^^
Governing Conditions 3^^
Elevating and Stamping the Character 313
Earnests of Greater Possessions 3^3
Of a Manifold and an Exalted Nature 313
XXXVII.
Verifying of Divine Healing.
By Facts that are Universal 315
Best Seen in the Meek, and Loveliness of Things 315
What We Know of God 3^6
xxiv CONTENTS,
PAGE
How do We Know of Healing? S^^
By the Creation 316
By Continuance of Things 3^7
The Truth of it is our Light and Life 317
The Truth Exemplified 3^7
The Truth as to the World and Men 318
The Healing Process is Supernatural 318
We are God-Made and God-Healed Men 319
Teaching of Jesus and the Endeavour of all Sciences . . . . 319
The Book of Job, a Parable of God and Satan 320
Creation is the Shadow of God and Laws are Representative
of Things Greater 321
XXXVIIL
Modern Experience as to Faith-Healing.
General and Particular Examples 322
Experiences of Devout Men 322
Own Personal Experience 322
Others' Experience 323
An Interesting Fact 323
Many Answers to Prayer, Maintenance of Institutions . . . 324
Experience of a Frenchman 324
Experience of a Church Dignitary 325
Records of Experience 327
Statements to the Author 328
Knowledge of Facts 328
Healers may remain Unhealed Themselvfes 328
The Power not in Man but in God 329
Mesmeric and Hypnotic Healing 329
Analogous Natural Processes 330
Various Examples 330
General Witness and Attestation 331
Life a Theatre for Work of Vast Energy 332
Establishing of Faith in Us • ... » 332
Power from Jesus 333
XXXIX.
A More Excellent Way.
The Work of an Artist is a Discourse of Reason ..... 334
Nature a Masterpiece — Our Memory a Blessing 334
CONTENTS. XXV
PAGE
Truth is Wrapped in Truth 335
In every Grief, somehow, somewhere, is Help for Grief . . . 335
Touches by the Master's Hand — Things not Fated 335
All the Great are many Smalls, and all the Smalls go Lessening
and Lessening 336
Picture- Promises in Nature of our Future Condition .... 336
Best Men sometimes are Cribbed, Cabined, and Confined . . 336
View the Matter Closely 337
If We do our Best, the Best will be made of Us 337
Answer meets not all the Case 337
Wrong Estimate as to the more Excellent Way 337
We are in the School of Christ 338
Martin Luther's Discipline 339
Schooled for the Future by Common Facts 340
Death as Bringing more Blissful Life 341
Those who kill the Physician, and fee the foul Disease . . . 341
Fellows of an infinite Tongue with no Faith at all . . . . 342
The Central Figure of our whole Being 342
The Way more Excellent than Great Gifts 343
XL.
The Practical Science of a Future State.— I.
Evidence for Religious Truth is of all kinds. ...... 345
Man, a Complex Material and Spiritual Person 345
Existence Regarded as a Precipitate 346
Religious Men, as a Society, are the Home of Christ .... 347
By Whom we Know that we have Everlasting Life .... 347
Practical Art as to a Future State —
Sociableness and Knowledge 348
Teaching by the Ancients and by Christianity .... 348
Jews Conserved the Ideas of Sin, of Propitiation and of a
Saviour 349
Evidence as to the Truth of all This —
Dogmas of Science and Religion 350
Primal Authority Convincing 351
Art and Science in Reasonable Deference to Authority . . . 352
The Abstruser Parts of our Faith 352
God's Care of the Neglected Ones 353
xxvi CONTENTS.
XLI.
The Practical Science of a Future State. — II.
PAGE
Receiving Christianity by Right Use of it 354
Students of Christian and of Physical Science 354
Man a Mental and Moral Being : our Creeds 355
Various other Evidences of Truth and of Delusions .... 356
Dream-States, Trances, Ecstasies 357
Extraordinary Exaltations of Imagination 358
Vision of Hell and of Heaven 358
Christ's Resurrection is not Considered in its far-reaching Affinities 359
Lacordaire, as an example of larger View 360
Godhead and Manhood of Christ : Large Testimony .... 360
Lapse of Time Rather Strengthens than Weakens the Evidence
for Christ 361
Nature of a Twofold Truth and the Effects 362
Our Faith the Practical Science of a Future State : an Object
Lesson 362
Degrading Hallucinations are akin to Possession by Pemons . . 363
What it is that Creates a true Science of Future Life .... 363
The Universal Proof of Deity and Immortality 364
Our Claim for Acceptance and Use of Science 364
XLII.
Occupations Hereafter of the Glorified.
Growth of our Knowledge 366
The Spirit in the Great Ancient Men 366
Nature and Conditions of a Blissful Immortality 367
I. The Renewal of our Nature 367
By Christ Being Conditioned in it : His Death not a Failure 367
Perfected Man Carried Forward 368
Nature of the Life we now Live 368
This Life Perfected in its Characteristics 369
Our Body the Material Receptacle of Divine Glory . . . 370
II. The Enlargement of our Faculties 371
A Divine Strain of all we Possess 371
Instinct, Affection, Reason, in Perfect Obedience . . • 372
III. Transactions of the Glorified State 372
Be in Heaven as Christ is 372
Reconciliation of the Material and Spiritual 373
CONTENTS. xxvii
PAGE
Three Reasons for a Visible Material Society 374
I. Various Symbols of the Process Here 374
Christ's Preparation in Heaven of Mansions fit for Us . 374
/^Lessons from the Sacraments 375
Our Sway Universal 376
Present Excellence Perfected in Various Differences . . 377
II. Spiritual ; in being Rendered Incorruptible as Substantial 378
III. , The Glory that shall be Revealed 379
How We are Sure of it 379
Index
381
** Forasmuch as Nature itself has implanted in man a craving after
the discovery of truth, (which appears most clearly from this, that,
when unoppressed by cares, we delight to know even what is going
on in the Heavens,) — led by this instinct, we learn to love all truth
for its own sake ; that is to say, whatever is faithful, simple, and con-
sistent ; while we hold in abhorrence whatever is empty, deceptive, or
untrue." — Cicero^ De Fin, Bon, et Mal.^ ii. 4.
** Learn the mystery of progression duly.
Do not call each glorious change decay ;
But know we only hold our Treasures truly
When it seems as if they passed away ;
** Nor dare to blame God*s gifts for incompleteness ;
In that want their beauty lies ; they roll
Towards some infinite depth of love and sweetness,
Bearing onward man's reluctant soul."
A, A, Procter,
THE NATURAL HISTORY
OF IMMORTALITY.
I.
^relfminarg Jpacts.
** Be not as those who have forgotten Him ;
For they are those who have forgotten themselves ;
They are the evil doers. ...
Paradise is kept
For those, thrice blessed, who have ears to hear."
Sir Edwin Arnold, Pearls of Faith.
T T E is the best and cleverest man who raises our
^ ^ ordinary life to the highest level, to the
greatest use and enjoyment of all things in their most
perfect form, discerning truth and use and beauty
where not before observed. Only of late have we
found, by the advance of science, that the evanescent
of natural things, and the refuse products of our
manufactories, may by care and skill grow to some-
thing of great constancy, strange and admirable.
Those are not credulous who, in the wonders
wrought by steam, in the romance of electricity, in
the miracles of telegraph, of phonograph ; in our
B
2 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
knowledge of the vast speed with which the seemingly
fixed stars move, of their path for thousands of years
to come, of our counting up the materials of which
they are made ; anticipate greater things in the
future. We are not guilty of spendthrift use of
tongue, if we say, though in what particular form
is not soon found, " All the past seems the true avouch
and harbinger of things more majestical : "
** For thus the book of Nature saith —
* Though not a leaf but withereth,
Yet life is stronger far than death,
And reigns in perpetuity.' "
/ohn Clelandy Scala Natures : The Great Evolution.
Science is giving more definite and practical
precision to our theology, and theology is rescuing
physical truth from its abuse by those who wish to
be without God in the world. Our theologians are
becoming more intelligent, as to nature ; and those
who give themselves to research, finding God every-
where, grow more sacred. The devout learn that
the visible world is a vast revelation of the art, the
science, the all-embracing wisdom of the Eternal ;
and men, who thought it not, begin to see that the
facts and doctrines of Scripture, like the objects in
nature, like the forces, the atoms, the movements, are
infinite both in meaning and effect.
There is still a conflict : not between Religion and
Science. That never existed. It was always a strife
amidst men's opinions. Men of science have in every
age changed their views. No sooner were their
teachings fairly well received, so that the religious
PRELIMINARY FACTS, 3
accepted them, or even before there was time to
accept, than others arose who said of the generally
asserted facts, "Winnowed by common sense such
corn is light as chaff." Not the truly religious, not
the good men, but those counted best versed in
science on a large scale, those whose experience had
advanced them to high ecclesiastical state and civil
position were the opponents of speculations which
seemed to unsettle faith, morals, and civil govern-
ment. It is a great and very uncharitable fault to
charge persecutions on Christ-like men. Persecutors
were always those whose knowledge and aims, selfish
or unselfish, found it advisable, authoritatively, to resist
innovations. Sometimes they were right, sometimes
they were wrong. This stern and watchful conflict,
daily toils, the skill in implements of war, the impress
of sore tasks making holy days to be used in strenuous
haste, what mean they all ? Who can inform ? It is
the gross and scope of our opinion, that could we
know, the graves would seem tenantless, and the dead
walk amongst the living in our streets.
The entrance of physical science is correcting,
enlarging, and giving a natural meaning and con-
firmation, to the ill-understood facts of Scripture ; and
turning from the warped or narrow interpretations
to accurate and wide meaning. Not less service is
advanced thought effecting in secular pursuits. The
denial of miracles is quieted by the unanswerable
fact — that every, even the commonest event of life,
when fully investigated, rests on miracle ; that at the
bank, the anvil, the loom, and in the furrow of the
4 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
field, we are amidst the wonderful ; that heaven
touches earth on all sides ; that no man can tell
where to separate the natural from the supernatural,
the visible from the invisible, life from death, the
known from the unknown. Why, 'tis rank and
impious stubbornness to deny it, gross and false to
nature, to reason most absurd.
We thank those thoughtful and praiseworthy men
whose far-reaching and verified investigations lead to
the application of their own methods, in an improved
way, to the higher subjects of Religion, of God, of
Immortality. We are now able to present the
grandest truths of our Faith with greatly the same
kind of reasoning and accuracy as that used in the
higher physical research ; and to show that wherein
they are correct we are true also ; and that their own
straying, not less than our own incapacity, are the
causes of any existing opposition in the views of the
best men as to God and man, as to our present life
and the coming immortality.
They have asserted that to construct an ultimate
and exhaustive theory of the universe, all matter
must be deprived of its properties and reduced to
mere mass and motion. Now they see that out of
such mass of nothingness, it is impossible to bring
anything that has not previously been put into it. If
worlds are to be formed, then sometime, from some-
where, by some one, changes must come in from
without ; or mass could not become matter, nor
matter grow into worlds.
They told us that the exhaustive analysis of matter
PRELIMINARY FACTS. 5
yields an aggregate of indivisible indestructible atoms,
so small as to be beyond conception by thought ; so
hard as to be no end of times harder than steel ; so
strong that every one can and does resist the united
forces of the universe ; and so soft, yielding, and resist-
less, that they do not bend the smallest leaf in the
forest. We are not told how these atoms and their
properties are got out of the mass wherein are no
qualities at all. True all things have that within
which passeth show, but where things are not can be
no show. To get atoms out of the ether, which is
soft and mobile to please the chemist, and rigidly
elastic to content the physicist, is but a play of
scientific imagination. True scientific imagination
identifies phenomena with familiar facts, but the vivid
ideality which professes to interpret familiar facts by
incomprehensible theories, whose difficulties are in
inverse ratio to the truth, is not scientific. This
viciousness of mind, which breaks down the fences
and forts of reason, is mostly due to some evil habit
which overleaps men's virtues. They are being
corrected by those who know that it is impossible
to tell all the differences between one oyster and
another, and that it were a miracle to predict truly
how any atom or any human being will act in every
condition. Thus are we warned against those whose
particular faults traduce truth to their own scandal.
We hope that instruction will enter where the folly of
unbelief now dwells : otherwise —
** Tasks in hours of insight willed,
Must be in hours of gloom fulfilled."
Matthew Arnold.
6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
Those who assured us some time ago that the
natural has been and is continuous without breaks ;
that not a particle of matter, nor smallest force, can
be destroyed ; were equally confident that there is no
scientific evidence of any kind in favour of im-
mortality. This delusion is going away. Without
breaks in the order of nature, uniformity could never
pass into variety ; nor likes become unlikes ; nor the
wild goose lay a tame ^^^. Loiig ago the sun did
not shine ; there was no sun. With regard to immor-
tality, if no force perishes, why is the force of life
wholly to cease .-* If no material atom can be
destroyed, being an indestructible unit, why should
that super-substantial atom, our mental and spiritual
personality which outlasts many arrangements and
material collocations in the body, pass away } If the
less lives on, why not the greater continue? We do
well to take heed that we do not misuse our most
sovereign reason, or, like sweet bells jangled, it will
become out of tune and harsh.
That which is now undoubtedly received is : visible
things are emblems ; forms, bodies, creative thoughts
in us, were themselves by Thought created. Living
things are the flesh-garment of spirit and the whole
universe a time-vesture of the Eternal. Infinity con-
ditions Himself and reveals Himself in the finite.
This explains the essential relativity of things ; forces
do not rage wildly as beasts, nor is life a den of
corruption. Our faculties of soul and spirit, antici-
pating and preparing for the future, are not lying
deceivers when they promise a crown and a palace.
PRELIMINARY FACTS, 7
All worlds and all things are passing into new stages
of being, and by study of things as they are we
obtain a real, true, and natural history of that which
is to come. Our life is a Pilgrim's Progress.
** My gracious God ! when I must die,
Oh, bear my happy soul above,
With Christ, my Lord, eternally
To share Thy glory and Thy love !
Then come it right and well to me.
When, where, and how my death shall be. "
B. Schmolk, Hymns from the Lajid of LntJur.
11.
®6e l^igfter ^etbice of iWan.
** Thou hast been my Blood, my Breath, my Being ;
The Pearl to plunge for in the sea of life ;
The Sight to strain for, past the bounds of seeing ;
The Victory to win through the longest strife."
Sir Edwin Arnold, The Indian Song of Songs.
**Thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach, the Restorer of
paths to dwell in." — Is A. Iviii. 12.
THE evils of society and of individuals are not
of so slight a nature that improvements in
machinery, facility of dispensing with manual labour,
and of spreading riches, can cure them. Marvellous
have been those improvements, effecting astonishing
production without hands, and for a century wealth
has been distributed with speed and abundance un-
equalled in any former times ; but, alas, to many of us
life is terrible ! There is, as Carlyle said, ** a Devil's
regiment," who act as were life a grimacing dance of
apes. Besides, there are millions, not yet enlisted in
that force, who toil and moil in miseries. It is a time
to make even the dullest consider whether these days
may not be made days of new life and better for all.
( 8 )
THE HIGHER SERVICE OF MAN. 9
The ancients looked back on a golden age and a
garden of delights so great and many that former old
men were as youths in fulness of joy. In our own
days, a ruined temple has often been taken for sample
of the inevitable end that comes to all human handi-
work. Every effort to plant a Garden of Delights,
to build a Tower of Safety, and clothe all classes with
the beauty of civilization, is scarcely begun before
decay sets in to sap its strength. Nature herself
decays. The universal empire of Death is the only
empire to which all glory and greatness are subject.
We do not any of us believe m our hearts that all
things will pass away as if they had not been.
Indeed, we know that throughout Nature all de-
partures are for a new beginning — sometime, some-
where. Every man has a future. The very loneliness
some experience is proof both of want and of
supply divine for the want. Those who do not use
this sense of want, and make virtue lie greatly in the
struggle, not alone the prize ; their ingratitude is
that sponge with which the evil one wipes out from
memory the favours of the Almighty. We are un-
able to believe that the wisdom, power, and surpass-
ing beauty, which combine all creation in one glorious
palace, and decorate with sculptured ornament every
adaptation, can be a work of which the cost and
purpose have not been counted. We are sure, when
strongest and wisest, that there will be some Repairer
of the breach, some Restorer of paths to dwell in.
This certainty of eternal things gives a great
impulse to our intellect, a conviction that we shall
10 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
not pass away; but, as a spark of ethereal fire, brighten
more and more. Having in ourselves, through our
own spirit and the Divine Spirit, an inheritance in
the invisible world, our horizon broadens infinitely.
The One who made us loves us, keeps us, waits for
us, fills us with glory and truth. There is no servant
in the service of Christ but has this conviction, and it
is a parable of higher service.
The conviction of higher things expresses itself in
many other ways. We talk of sorrows that men live
by. There are truths rooted in our darkness which
gladden every one and kindle light. We feel in the
recesses of our soul that we live by those truths, and
for them would die. Our hearts keep holiday because
of them. Every science, and every art, in the variety
and beauty of them, carry us to something beyond.
There were a few wild species of the rose, but we
studied the secrets of that flower-world, the effects of
soil and climate, and our skill has made the rose
transcend its former self. We have developed
hundreds of sorts of every shape and size, and of
colours from brilliant yellow to darkest purple.
There are men who excel their natural state, whom
poor clothing cannot hide, nor pressing toil depre-
ciate. We know them as Ulysses was known. We
thank God for them, thank Him for Bunyan, that
wonderful dreamer ; and for Luther, the wakeful man,
honest and bold. All good workers, all discoverers,
are in their degree repairers and restorers, trans-
formers of themselves and of others too.
We think of them, and can improve ourselves by
THE HIGHER SERVICE OF MAN. ii
picturing the best man, the perfectly righteous, such as
was seen of old. Not guilty of one wrong act, yet life-
long labouring under the imputation of being wholly
wrong, that his pure unselfishness might be fully tried
and proved. Coming at last to bonds, to scourgings,
to crucifying. The highest specimen of men.
This Great Life we know as the Incarnation of God
in Man. The Infinite took Personal Form, the eternal
Power compassed Himself with Flesh. The truth was
a light in the darkness of old philosophies. It is a
reality in advanced science. The essence of man and
of all things is in God. Of every thing, from a little
flower to a great nation, there is an archetype some-
where. The unseen contains the essence, the reality,
of all that we see. The fashions of things for the
wilcjerness Tabernacle were made by Moses to re-
semble, so far as he could, what was in Heaven.
When we think of an Eternal, then of a spiritual life,
that spiritual represents the Eternal, of whom the
mind is conscious. A workman embodies in some
graceful form the shaping of a thing that must first
be in his own mind. It came into his mind from
nature, and nature is a revelation of the Eternal
arrayed in finite garments. This should make every
man see something wonderful in his work. Work is
the product of a -spirit of intelligence, is the outer
fashioning of a something delineated in his own
spirit, a spirit winited for a season to his own body,
applauding him when he runs, consoling him when he
falls, cheering him when he rises, and always urging
him for God's sake to pass on.
12 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
It is very useful to think where we can find the
permanent reality that corresponds with our idea of a
perfect man, from whom we expect the higher, the
perfect service of a repairer, of a restorer. Astronomers
teach that no finite ; being can fully and in detail
realize all the great works in space and time. God
alone can fill all in all. From those taking the large
view turn to things microscopical. Here are life
within life, recesses within recesses ; interior worlds of
wonder, more and more inscrutable, go on and on
until we lose ourselves. Only the Infinite, who com-
prehends the vastness, can enter and know the
minuteness. Hence that Infinite, even God, is the only
One who contains in Himself the essence, the sub-
sistence of the perfect man and of perfect things.
They are the embodied thought of God. We in this
way look at the reality of the truth, stated by Moses,
about man being the image, the likeness of a reality,
that is in God.
Adam was the image of a Divine Idea, as every-
thing in nature is the form taken by some power
outside of nature working within nature. Christ, the
second Adam, was not merely an image of the Divine
Idea, but in His flesh was the Divine Idea itself. The
Divine existence and subsistence being made flesh,
the glory of God was seen in human form. Thus
becoming one of us. He was a prey to human weak-
ness, and at length that flesh expired on the cross of
Calvary (Phil. ii. 6-8).
** I do not always go where Thou dost lead,
I do not always Thy soft whispers heed.
THE HIGHER SERVICE OF MAN, 13
I follow other lights, and in my sin
I vex with many a slight my Friend within.
Yet dost Thou not, though grieved, from me depart,
But guardest still Thy place within my heart."
Hymn by Dr. Hatch.
The great old Greeks had pleasure, like Homer, in
grand imaginations, and reasoned like Plato, in the
splendour of philosophy, that persons specially owed
their existence to God Himself ; and that the perfect,
the archetypal man, represents that Eternal and
Infinite in whom is no growth, nor change, nor decay.
Their notions concerning the beautiful, the sublime, the
heavenly, were impressions of pleasant things very
much what we think ours would be did we see the
very realities of the spiritual, the intellectual, the moral.
That spiritual not being only our own thoughts, not
only our own intellectual abstractions, not only our
physical and spiritual emotions, religious or other,
but an influence from that Wonderful and Eternal
who causes and contains all things.
If it came as an inquiry into our spirit what the
beautiful, the sublime, the heavenly righteousness was
like, we should discern the beautiful character mingling
with duty for duty's sake ; the sublime mind stooping
to most menial acts ; the inward essence being con-
formed to transform the outwardly degrading ; the
highest mingling with most vulgar and commonest
relations, as Christ mingled, " in whom are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." All this
by help of the Spirit who rules the universe in
righteousness ; loving, helping, elevating all into
obedience to God's commands. We should as intel-
14 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
lectual Greeks, like Plato ; as strong Romans, like
Cicero ; as holy Christians, take the same view as
St. John, as St. Paul, become Hebrews of the
Hebrews ; and regard Christ as that God-Man,
perfect God, perfect man, the most natural, yet super-
natural. His coming to love us, to guide us, to be
the core of our being, to make us righteous persons
like Himself; helping us to every perfection of body
and mind, and qualifying us for that Higher service
which raises the whole creation from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God (Rom. viii. 21) ; would be the great splendour
of our life ; the Holy of Holies built in the mysterious
depths of our soul.
Indeed, Christ's thought and character are reflected,
and where willingly received are reproduced in every
faithful life. There is a boundless possibility of
existence and of service in the world. God not only
comes afresh to us in every force and beautiful thing,
binding the deepest instincts of our life with His own
character so that all blessings extend from the present
to the future ; but is, by the Holy Ghost, an indwelling
Personal Help. He makes knowledge to be an un-
sealed fountain. When we go right down into our
work, we get up vastly in our knowledge. Christ is
the measure of our personal existence.
** I say the acknowledgment of God in Christ,
Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee
All questions in the world and out of it."
Robert Brownings The Incarnation.
III.
"The world is built somehow on moral foundations; in the long
run it is well with the good ; in the long run it is ill with the wicked."
— ^James Anthony Froude.
"It is not in man to rest in absolute contentment. He is born, and
tends to aspirations as the sparks fly upwards, unless he has brutalized
his nature, and quenched the spirit of his immortality which is his
portion." — SoUTHEY.
THE question whether we are essentially of stuff
so flat and dull, that the instinct of worship
and the desire of immortality are a face without a
heart, depends upon what is the world's governing
power.
Power is scientifically known as the world's energy,
and force is the working of that energy. The law of
mechanical force thus working is the correspondence
and equivalence of changes. Whenever a change
occurs there is a corresponding equivalent change in
all other phenomena. There is never any moment,
as nature now exists, in which innumerable changes
do not occur ; and all are due to the eternal power
represented by all forces, whether known or unknown.
( 15 )
i6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
What we scientifically, that is, physically or me-
chanically, know of the world is the deliverance by
our thought, as to the presentation through our senses,
of things in their interactions and mutual relations.
Though "we have that within which passeth show,"
and though every outward thing is a mask of greater
inner mysteries, these mysteries, beyond all show, are
not taken count of by physical science. Things are
known solely through their properties, and the pro-
perties are solely exhibited by their interactions and
mutual relations.
This truth is very important. Physical science
knows nothing of the real or essential existence of a
thing, or the cause of a thing. All forms of reality,
beyond their implications, are unknown ; things seen
and temporal are only apparitions. There is no
absolute matter, entity, power, motion, rest, time,
space, known to science. There is no mode nor form
of material existence which is its own cause or
measure, either quantitatively or qualitatively, nor do
we know it otherwise than in ceaseless flow of changes.
The universe, in its manifest existence, is but a group
of relations in manifold interaction, by which greater
and eternal things obtain sensible and true avouch.
It follows that the assertion — " Mechanical power, or
energy, or force, adequately accounts for all material
existence " — is simply an absurdity : the very coinage
of a false currency for thought, and an abuse of
reason which works strongly in godless minds.
History shows nations to be so constituted that
courage, strength, endurance, success, are on the side
THE WORLD'S GOVERNING POWER, 17
of truth and against falsehood. The moral laws so
work that the better nation is the stronger nation ;
temperance, patience, spirit, skill, make it the stronger.
This betterness is in company with those splendid
instruments of righteousness by which individuals
accomplish the noblest works. The martyr endures
the stake, the patriot braves the scaffold, counting it
a duty, a privilege, an honour to live and die for truth
and freedom.
It is a recognized principle that the assertions of
scientific men are capable of verification experi-
mentally ; but that the world is governed by mechanical
power without mind, that matter and force account
for all things, is not only incapable of presentation by
experiment, but without any sensible or true avouch.
There is no mode by which we can raise mechanical
force into vital, or mental, or moral energy. It is
impossible to ^xm^ discourse of reason, to furnish will,
or life, so that things out of joint therewith shall
have the soul of wit. It is not less the fashion of
some professors to go beyond their science, than it is
for the younger sort of them to lack discretion. It
fits our wisdom so far to believe them, as they are
competent, in their particular sciences, do not trans-
gress, and give to their saying due act and place.
In nature we do not find mass, or matter, without
force ; nor is any force known, so far as science takes
knowledge of it, apart from matter. Matter, possibly,
is a concrete of force ; or a formation by force of
aetherial vortices within the universal medium ; but
no man can say what matter really is, or where
C
i8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
matter begins, or where it ends ; what spirit is, or
how it works ; or how force, by difference in working,
produces all natural variety. We may admit, so far
as we now purpose to reason, matter and force to be
so inseparably joined that we are unable to separate
them, or to know one apart from the other. We do
not admit that any man's achievements, even when
performed at utmost height, exhibit matter and force
as everything. He who has that viciousness of
nature, the stamp of worst defect — unbelief of God,
becomes corrupt in general, and so blind in particular
as to the relativity of force and matter, that he
takes them as the world's essence and our fortune's
star.
This communion and relativeness of matter and
force are specially to be noticed in that almost in-
conceivable narrowness which separates diff*erent
forces and sorts of matter from one another. Science
has narrowed the apparent gulf between living and
dead, sentient and insentient, animal and plant, man
and beast ; but there is no evidence, on which we can
reason, that automatous action of the dead obtained
life, the insentient of itself became sentient, the plant
by its own selection waxed into an animal, or beast
voluntarily grew into man. We are not able, though
we combine material elements marvellously and pro-
duce more marvellous results, to transform one into
another; nor is it possible, at present, by any artificial
application, to change mechanical force into vital,
mental, or moral energy. It is, so far as experience
goes, tested by many experiments, impossible to give
THE WORLD'S GOVERNING POWER, 19
any reliable examples or arguments that mechanical
force explains the phenomena of the universe. The
lowest note of the music does not compass universal
harmony ; nor is God circumvented, nor the heart
taken out of mystery, by that which indeed amazes
our every faculty. If we reason (as did S. Athanasius,
"De Incarnatione," 31, 48-52) on the power of Christ
over masses of men, "drawing them to religion,
persuading them to virtue, teaching them immortality,
leading them to the desire of heavenly things, reveal-
ing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring power over
death, showing every man to himself, abolishing the
godlessness of idolatry," we cannot ascribe all this to
mechanical force.
Go further : it is certain that no finite force nor
substance is complete in itself; nor does, nor can
exist of itself and apart from all other. Hence,
mechanical force is neither the primal nor sole cause
of things, but a relative quality. Whatever the
assertions made, it is neither probable, nor even
thinkable, that in and from the elementary units of
mass, without any property or motion, could me-
chanical power have proceeded where no power was ;
nor if power were brought in from without, is it
conceivable that the life, the intelligence, the volition,
now existing arose by specific differences, where
differences were impossible in homogeneous mass,
produced by various velocities of mechanical motion.
Displacement of any portion of fluid, destitute and
incapable of difference, by another portion alike
destitute, could not effect any change in the nature
20 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
of the mass. The given space would present the
same substance indistinguishable from that which
was present before. There are seething brains which
shape fantasies beyond all that reason approves, and
give to those airy nothings a local habitation and
a name ; but those fancies, however strong, are not
great nor admirable. If the balance of our lives
were not a scale of reason to poise and prevent
folly, conclusions would be preposterous ; and did
not higher thought and service cool the sensuality
of blood, judgment would be maimed with dangerous
and turbulent lunacy, we should err against all rules
of nature.
If materialists can only mechanically explain things,
so much the worse for materialists. They are nature's
poorest journeymen to make things so abominably.
We do mechanically in art, in science, in morals, as
nature does ; but we could not work even mechanically
apart from intelligence, and this intelligence presumes
intelligence in our Maker. Sometimes the all about
us seems a barren waste. We are as men dropped in
the middle of a vast moor, without guide, and night
coming on ; but some Moses, some delivering faculty
awakes, so that we have fruit of that which appeared
fruitless. These helps are as light given on our way
that we may know the world's governing power to
be spiritual, and that it will assume full and acknow-
ledged rule on the earth. It already works from
mind to mind. Our moral sense is not less a fact,
than our intelligence is real. Carlyle well said, " It
is impossible to conceive that these high faculties
THE WORLD'S GOVERNING FOWER, 21
were put into us by a Being who had none of its
own." We cannot conceive that the great truths
of man's higher service were put into him, there
being no such truths, nor any real service. That were
a casting out of God and a bringing in of the devil
indeed. To think that the Eternal Power whom
nature represents is not more than nature is very
poor thinking. Whatever are the material media
with which He works, we are sure that the various
forces, or working energy of the universe, have not
as yet displayed all His fulness. The light coming
to us, by undulations with various velocities and
volumes, is not altogether determined by the force
of impulse ; the undulations, velocities, and volumes
conspire with many atoms and molecules to produce
a unity of brightness. The unity does not in itself
contain all the varieties displayed : that on which the
light shines, whether earth or metal, flora or fauna,
co-operates to form the glittering splendour. Exercise
of thought further reveals that the Eternal Unity of
Power creating the unity or homogeneousness of
mass, and differencing operations so that the primal
mass became atomic, or discrete — was not, nor is, a
mere mechanical push or pull ; but that perfection
of Being which is the strength of every force, that
fountain whence all life flows, that wisdom which is
the source of all rule, that will out of which come
those high truths — that warrant and beautify all our
service. Present organic life is but a flash, the
various worlds are as bright meteors in the universal
sky, even in these are more grandeurs than we dream
22 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of in our philosophy ; and when we attain the full
vision of God in that far-off land of beauty whither
we hasten, our face unveiled will shine in His bright-
ness ; our soul and spirit be glorious amidst those
glories of which all former things during vast periods
of time did prophesy.
It is a matter of surprise how men live in the midst
of marvels and are heedless of them. They talk of
natural selection and ignore the fact that the Ruling
Province is a selecting Providence. There is too
much of the uncertain and conjectural in our con-
dition, even in the most advanced sciences, for us
to allow that our ignorance knows the whole of the
true. Mastery is given but to few minds, and we are
so easily mystified that the precaution of the prudent,
and the forethought of the wary, do not always serve
to retain us in humble, loving, faithful veneration and
service of Him whom to serve for one hour is of
more blessed effect to heart and mind than are years
devoted to lower use. All our powers, faculties, and
principles are necessary to apprehend even a part of
that our beneficent Creator betows. As we persevere,
the arcana of nature open ; step by step wise inten-
tions, wrought out in deed, acquire more power ; and
when we discern the stamp and rule of God in
science, the scheme of Christ's Redemption becomes
clearer to our perception. There is a love healing all
sorrow, a power aiding all weakness, a wisdom re-
moving all ignorance. We love those who hate us ;
strive to do good even to those who devise evil ;
and we discover everywhere a wisdom and goodness
THE WORLD'S GOVERNING POWER. 23
guiding us, by furthest reaching discipline, into a bliss
entrancing and a life never ending.
" Let all the world in every corner sing,
My God and King.
The heavens are not too high,
His praise may thither fly ;
The earth is not too low,
. His praises there may grow."
George Herbert ^ Antiphon.
IV.
©fit l^igtiest aim anb attainment of JWan.
** To be practically reverent of Human Worth to the due extent, and
abhorrent of human Want of Worth in the like proportion, do you
understand that art at all ?'' . . .
" Nature is ready to do much ; will of herself cover, with some veil
of grass and lichen, the nakedness of ruin : but her victorious act, when
she can accomplish it, is that of getting ^^w to go with her handsomely,
and change disaster into new wealth." — Carlyle, Frederick the Greats
Book XXI. ch. i., ii.
" Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man." — Eph. iv. 13.
WE are to "aim at perfection in everything,
though in most things it is unattainable,"
said Lord Chesterfield. That perfection is not un-
attainable is certain, for certainly our whole career is
that discipline by which God trains us for it. We
cannot by a leap attain it, but rung by rung we may
climb up, for our whole life is as the ladder that
Jacob saw. It was for this very purpose, of enabling
us to become perfect, that Christ came into the world,
and to show how God would act in human circum-
stances, just as we are.
*' Man is God's image ; but a poor man is
Christ's stamp to boot : both images regard."
George Herbert, The Church Porch.
( 24 )
THE HIGHEST AIM AND ATTAINMENT OF MAN 25
That men may bestir themselves to follow the
Divine human example is the aim of all Christian
teaching, as St. Paul said, " That we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus " (Col. i. 28). Job
(i. r) was said to be perfect. Zacharias and Elisabeth
were declared to be righteous and blameless (Luke i.
6). Both of them and Job were genuinely honest,
and with a single aim, wholly apart from twofaced-
ness, heartily served God. Every one of us, however
and wherever he may be placed, is to aim at that high
style of Christianity which means valour and heroic
nobleness. If you say, "No such great degree is
attainable," begin at once to think all the good you
can, say all the good you can, do all the good you
can, and keep at it. You will soon find yourself, even
if it be in a small circle, amongst those men of endur-
ing loyalty to Heaven for whom triumph waits ; and
those shouts will come which greet the noble, all-
enduring manhood that commands the many weak
and foolish to make them better.
There is no question but that we are to strive after
the realization, as finite creatures, of all the good that
we are capable of; to endeavour the attainment of
that which Jesus meant when He taught, " Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect " (Matt. v. 48).
This teaching, given in Holy Scripture, is con-
firmed by natural facts. We are so framed that every
man worth anything, like Michael Angelo, does not
neglect even trifles ; but recollects " that trifles make
perfection, and perfection is no trifle." The raw
26 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
recruit is drilled that, in the measure of his power,
he may be a perfect soldier. The natural man,
enlisted to serve under Christ's Banner, becomes a
regenerate man, enters a spiritual state, lives to God,
ascends the scale of spiritual, mental, moral exist-
ence, adding grace to grace, effort to effort, until in
the World of Glory he is a perfect image of the
Creator. It has been said, '' There is something in
every man's heart, that, if you knew it, would make
you hate him." It is better to take Lord Lytton's
words — '' In every man's nature there lies a something
that, could you get at it, cleanse it, polish it, render it
visibly clear to your eyes, would make you love him."
The model of the perfect man presented to us in
the person of Christ is now attainable by individuals
only ; and these individuals are made wiser and
stronger than all the unwise that these unwise may
in their turn, be ennobled ; and thus nations, and
finally the world, will find it possible to realize in
beauty and power and goodness all that God desires
to see in nature and amongst men.
Add to all that you know and think of the beauty
and graceful form of plants and animals, those rich
natural provisions and arrangements by which species
are not only preserved but carried on to higher
beauty and grace. Then take, so far as you are
capable, some natural or scientific fact and make it
your own, that you may preserve yourself from that
confused movement of the world's mind which leads
so many to forget what Scripture and Nature and
Science show to be certain : that everything, and
THE HIGHEST AIM AND ATTAINMENT OF MAN. 27
every man who individually desires and aims at it, is
being led on to the highest and best even perfect
condition. The natural and scientific fact and incident,
we would therewith connect, are the eye looking into
a glass.
Sir J. William Dawson, one of America's ablest
scientific men, relates, in his work " Modern Ideas of
Evolution," p. 73, " I remember when a little boy
being suddenly struck on looking at myself in a
mirror by the question, ' How is it that I can see ; is
not sight a very wonderful .thing ? ' I could not
answer the question then, and though I have since
learnt much as to the laws of light and the physiology
of vision, I have not yet fathomed the mysteries of
the action of light on nerve-cells and of the transmis-
sion of visual impressions to the mind."
Indeed, the eye is one of the most wonderful things
in nature. It brings distant things into relation with
us. By its structure and powers, and through medium
of the aetherial undulations, we are, by light and
knowledge, connected with the most distant luminous
bodies in the universe. The eye is a self-acting and
registering instantaneous photographic camera. It
represents both colours and forms ; and by a nervous
apparatus conveys the impressions to our sensorium,
the brain. We know the beauty of flowers, the
splendour of sunlight, the decorated landscape, and
the faces of our fellow-creatures ; we discern wonders
so admirably related to the near and far-off, to the
present and future, that the vision reveals worlds
greater than our own, a future vaster than all that
28 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
the present contains ; and thus seeing that future we
prepare ourselves for it, that we may not fall short of
any good thing, but both in the present and future
realize the highest aim and attainment of man.
The confused movement of the mind in all secular
and worldly men narrows it, excludes the future, leads
them so to act that the present seems the whole of
life, and its benefits all that they need care for.
Trifles light as air are to the godless stronger than
the confirmations of Holy Writ ; and work in
dangerous conceits, burning hot like sulphur ; or, as
poison, so degrade the everlasting soul that dogs are
better than they. Shakespeare relates that Henry
IV. thus rebuked the Prince of Wales : —
** Thou dost, in thy passages of life,
Make me believe, that thou art only mark'd
For the hot vengeance and the rod of Heaven.
Tell me else.
Could such inordinate, and low desires,
Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts.
Such barren pleasures, rude society.
As thou art match'd withal and grafted to,
Accompany the greatness of thy blood.
And hold their level with thy princely heart?"
Some of the cleverest and best are as Bentham
(*' Deontology," vol. i. p. 13), who wrote, "To prove
that an immoral action is a miscalculation of self-
interest, to show how erroneous an estimate the
vicious man makes of pains and pleasures is the
purpose of an intelligent moralist." Such a state-
ment is worthy of all commendation as to this life,
and would be perfect if applied to the government
of our conduct in reference to God and the coming:
THE HIGHEST AIM AND ATTAINMENT OF MAN 29
life. What is physically and intellectually and
morally good for the present, is also good for the
future ; and whatever rightly benefits the body is
good for the soul. The story of the universe is not
all told, even when we think that all forces, substances,
and events, have been physically described. There
is a manifold web of forces, wishes, feelings, emotions,
woven somehow beyond the ken of materialistic
vision. We have a natural body and a spiritual
body, have a mortal life and a life immortal, and are
partakers not only of God's physical action in the
world, but of His spiritual. We must not fuse these,
as if the forces acting on dead matter were identical
with those acting on life, on intelligence, on our con-
science. The material forces fashion our body, and
nature is the sphere wherein by our voluntary
co-working human will, moved by the spiritual and
moral power of Divine Will, is raised into the
highest physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral
manhood.
We are fellow-workers with God when we plough
the field and sow it for harvest, when out of the crab
we grow an apple. In a higher sense are we fellow-
workers when by work of faith, of faith the gift of
God to every man who desires and works for it, we
rise from grace to grace, from gift to gift, from use
to use, until, even when flesh and heart fail, God is
the strength and portion of our heart. Sometimes,
when we seem weakest, we are strongest ; and at the
end of life, though we say, " God be merciful to us
sinners," in use of the words of Jesus, we thank God
30 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
that we have been enabled to fulfil all that He gave
us to do : for though we are dead, our life is hid
with Christ in God, and Christ enables us to do all
things (Col. iii. 3 ; Phil. iv. 13). The battle of good
and evil tends to victory of the good, preserving us
from the evil (Gal. v. 16, 17). Thus our reason
and our spirit harmonize with natural laws ; are in
uniformity with spiritual laws ; and are on the way to
perfection by Divine Strength ; are built up in physical
force ; are grounded in reason as to science, repre-
sentative of earthly truth ; and have that grounding
crowned by the higher, grander, nobler truth, which
binds man to God, clothes him with God's power,
and girds him with God's life — the highest aim and
attainment of man.
** Live with me every day,
Thou Lord of life ! Thy one death for me
Is more than all my deaths can be,
Though I ten thousand pay.
And die them all each hour in life's long stay."
Suggested by George Herbert, See Affliction,
V.
CrSrtst, anlr our jpollotoing on foftitfier l^e is.
** Earth, thou grain of sand on the shore of the universe of God . . .
thee will He again visit, and then thou wilt prepare a throne for Him,
as thou gavest Him a manger cradle ; in His radiant glory wilt thou
rejoice, as thou didst once drink His blood and His tears and mourn
His death ! On thee has the Lord a great work to complete." —
Pressel, Leben Jesu^ 558. Quoted in Life and Words of Christ,
by C. Geikie, D.D.
THE Present Day, the youngest day of Eternity, is
child and heir of the Past. It is a new era in
time. It is sent from Heaven to us, and has its
heavenly omens. The omen we take to think about,
is the Ascension of Christ to the right Hand of Power,
that our endeavour may be fuller and richer to follow
on whither He now is.
Christ is the most glorious Being and Person the
world has ever seen. In the vast universe of God is
none so fair as He. Divinely born, the perfection of
human nature and the Fulness of Godhead were
made into one person. That person was rich in all
contrasts, the truest and deepest humility in union
with kingly majesty. Sorrow beyond all sorrow
( 31 )
32 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
joined to exquisite tenderness of sympathy and spot-
less holiness. He used His latest breath in asking
blessings on those who crucified Him. His more
than human power clears the moral vision of believers
and changes their hearts. He makes us to feel that
the bees hum about the flowers, the birds carol on
the boughs from amid their leafy bowers, even the
leaping and shining waters appear instinct with
the life that extols the glory of God. Intellectual
composure and elevation met together in Him :
teaching, helping, saving men ; so that the most
ignorant might be taught, be made children of God,
and become men of power. He lived. He died, He
rose from the dead. He ascended to Heaven. He
was Man in it all. He was God in it all : Son of Man
and Son of God. He remained forty days after His
resurrection, not to shut behind Him the prison of
mortal life and leave men in it ; but to give infallible
proof to His beloved Apostles and others that He
was indeed alive again, and had opened to them for
ever the Heavenly Dwelling. He gave them instruc-
tions as to their declaring that the Love of God unto
all men had been made manifest ; love by which the
weakest of men, concentrating his weakness on Christ
shall become strong, and find Him the One to lean
on safely, the centre and hold of life for the perish-
ing ; so wonderful was Christ in those forty days.
He filled the hearts of the Apostles with patience to
bear every trial, and with courage to dare and to
overcome all the opposition of Satan. He so en-
dowed them, beyond the worth of warriors, that living
CHRIST, AND OUR FOLLOWING WHITHER HE IS. 33
as He lived, they too should rise from the grave,
they too should ascend to Heaven.
View the meaning of Christ's Ascension as it shows
the Perfecting of His Human Nature, and as it reveals
the Divinity of His Person.
The Perfecting of Christ's Human Nature.
He was born without sin, and so, being like the
first Adam, He is called the secohd Adam. He was
that most innocent child, the pattern of all innocence,
who is also the greatest example of obedience to
parents. He became wisest of all men whether in
teaching those who desired to be taught, or in reply-
ing to His enemies. He was the greatest speaker,
and of all wonder-workers the most wonderful. If
men tell us our race is advancing to perfection. He is
the cause and pattern of that progress. He was
exposed to the malice of evil ones even from the
beginning, and endured trial and persecution until,
made perfect in His human nature by suffering, He
gave His life unto death to redeem us for God. In
His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, He
has withdrawn those two black, impenetrable curtains
which hang down upon and shroud the two extremities
of life : whence we came and whither we go. Now
we know that we came from God, and shall go to
Heaven. He has brought the precepts of Divine
Revelation to bear on our higher principles and
practice. Think rightly of all this, and you will
understand how complete a man He was : beginning
D
34 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
in purest innocency, He was made perfect in patience,
in wisdom, in love, in power ; all excellences met in
Him ; and we rightly regard Him as that One who,
free from every sin, lived that high moral life, that
noble intellectual life, that brilliant spiritual life, which
throws into our own life clear luminous distinctness
and power of saintliness as men. Enoch before the
Flood had walked with God, and God translated
him ; Elijah had been very brave, and a chariot of
fire conveyed him tcf Heaven ; and hundreds of men,
with the torches of a good life, lived by Divine Grace,
and tried to show and throw light on the future ; but
it was left for the manhood of Christ to rend asunder
the darkness, find the solution of every evil, and by
His Ascension brighten the mystery of life with a
revelation of Heaven. Christ as man ascended on
high that thither we may go.
The Divinity of Christ's Person.
This filled every chamber of body, of mind, of soul,
the fulness of Godhead dwelt in Him bodily. He
was one man of reasonable soul and human flesh
subsisting ; and by Divine taking of that manhood
into God He was one Christ. As many things grew
plainer and clearer to His human nature ; and as that
nature was, by being perfected, adapted to receive
more and more of the consciousness and presence of
Godhead ; He felt that under the fiery canopy of
bodily and spiritual suffering every weakness was
drawn aside, and He knew Himself to be filled with
CHRIST, AND OUR FOLLOWING WHITHER HE IS. 35
power. He was led in ways and worked in manner
not foreseen of men.
We cannot know all the mystery of the Divine and
human natures in one Person, but that is no difficulty.
We do not know how it is possible for our brain to
think, or for our heart to feel, or how even an atom
of matter can be the wonder that it is. We may
know some of the mystery by remembering that
Christ called Himself the " Vine." The Vine, as it is
the more fruitful, will lie prone on the ground — so frail
is humanity ; but the everlasting Father, incorporating
Himself in this manhood, raised it even as a vine is
raised, and Christ was made the Vine of God, whence
we have the rosy wine that gladdens our heart, and
makes us of life so bright. He is also the Bread of
God, the Manna of God, and eating Him we live by
Him. We brace every nerve, become new men, and
shape adversity into most favourable results. Our souls
are touched with the unseen but omnipresent power
of the Holy Spirit. He has made us to know this as
a general truth, and to realize it as a particular fact.
Able men who endeavour to look into the nature,
inner meaning, and power of things, find everywhere
and in everything more than the thing itself; a sort
of concentration as to the universal, and a re-action
on all parts of the universe ; a sort of epitome of all
worlds in every raindrop. Take these sparks of truth
as shadows of the Divine Truth : God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself, and Christ
ascended to Heaven, even to the right Hand of God,
that we may know the way.
36 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
The Perfecting of Christ's Human Nature and the
Revealing of His Divinity are the Foundation of our
own Growth in Grace now, and of our Crowning with
Glory when we Ascend to be with Christ.
Our Own Growth in Grace.
By believing in Christ as the One sent by the Love
of God to save us, we receive power to become sons
of God. The New Birth is efiTected by power coming
from on high, and communicated to us by the Holy
Ghost. This Holy Ghost, renewing us, continues the
work of sanctification. With it proceeds strengthen-
ing and enlarging, the growth of wisdom and love,
until at last, according to his degree, the believer is
made perfect in Christ.
Being set free from vice, the source of many
miseries, he is no longer tarnished with guilt. His
ideas of excellence rise, he seeks not the prizes of
great wealth to enrich him, he endeavours by God's
help to unfold his spiritual faculties, and delights in
the products of reason as they uplift his soul in
Divine contemplation. Men, proud, are made humble ;
the fierce, meek ; the slow and weak-minded are made
quick and strong of understanding; they do that
easily which before they could not at all perform.
The mystery of the Divine Nature is wrought into
the human nature. Our moral and physical nature
are fused with endurance, with faculties working
miraculous results. We are capable of special services
which not even angels can render. Men, like St.
CHRIST, AND OUR FOLLOWING WHITHER HE IS. 37
Paul, are able to do all things in Christ. Men, like
St. Augustine, rule the thoughts of mankind genera-
tion after generation. Others, like Anselm, unite
vast powers of reasoning with simplicity of life.
Some are poets, such as St. Bernard, Milton, George
Herbert ; and those like Luther are champions of
Heaven ; and working with Melancthon dare all
things that their brethren may be brought to Christ,
and be perfected in Him. These are true denote-
ments of high service, and work conviction of one yet
higher.
Then comes our Crowning Glory : Our Ascension to
BE WITH Christ.
The mystery of our going up to dwell in Glory is
illustrated to us by the stars that move in the heavens
above as God's own lights that we may see the way.
Christ ascended that His Glorified Human Nature,
enthroned there, might be the centre of attraction.
Scientific men endeavour to explain the adjustments
of worlds in their many motions and substances and
lives by supposing that there is one vast central mass
around which, in their various distances doing their
several works and occupying their several places, all
worlds do move.
These far-off worlds are lights in realms and
places surpassing earthly time and things. They
seem unchangeable, yet are not so sure, nor bright,
as we shall be and that for ever. Their essence
and mystery shine with a brightness that illumines
realms and realms ; but we in our restored and en-
38 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
larged dignity, in our elevated nature, shall not look
downward for continuance of our happiness, or for
supply of any wants — we shall look upwards to Him
who is our All in all. Then will be our noblest times,
then we shall do our noblest work, then we shall live
our noblest lives. Our content shall be so absolute
that not another can be like to this. It is blessedly
true. The Scriptures of God declare that Christ has
been exalted, that all worlds and men and spirits
and things may be subject to Him. The holy men,
the capable men, the perfected men, are to ascend to
be where He is ; are to take high service and place
with Him ; that perfected as He is perfect, glorified
as He is glorious, they too may sit on the right hand
of God.
** There to reap, in joy for ever,
Fruit that grows from seed here sown ;
There to be with Him, who never
Ceases to preserve His own.'*
Kelly.
VI.
CSoing 23egonH t{)e Fisibk.
Who is the modern hypocrite? The man who uses his own in-
telligence to show that there is no other greater Intelligence, and thus
steals the livery of Pleaven to serve the Devil in.
The animal creation was prophetic of man. All things and forms of
life have completion in him. He is the crown of material and physical
existence, and the personal representation of that new spiritual existence
whic^i becomes universal in the aew heavens and the new earth.
" npHERE is sufficient light for those who want to
-L see, and sufficient darkness for those who do
not want to see "^ in nature the promises and potencies
of immortality. The question is, What will a man do
with it ? Will he use the light, like scientific men, as
a means of investigation, and rise from truth to truth ;
or will he, loving darkness, go on even to the outer
darkness of total ruin ?
There is no compulsion. No man is so born as to
be full of light, with no darkness at all; nor does
history tell us of any persons whose mind and heart
were so bad and dark, that in them was neither light
nor goodness at all : there is no fatality for any one.
* Pascal Pensees, "Caracteres de la Vraie Religion," vol. ii. p. 151 :
Ed. Faugere.
( 39 )
40 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
None of us " is too good to be where ill men are, and
only One is best of all amongst the rarest good."
In every face, where character is expressed, you
will see the usual aspect of thought ; some sadness,
more or less ; and an occasional brightening, as if the
man had capacity to become an angel. In some
faces, heated as with an inward fire in times of
provocation, may be discerned the ferocity and cruelty
•of a demon. The better part of a man, the angel in
him, is stronger than the evil part, the demon ; and
every man, even the worst, can with less effort, by use
of what God gives, become more happily and easily
useful and honourable ; than he can make himself a
ne'er-do-well and a castaway.
If you hear any one talk of genius, of talent, as if
some were favoured with a heavenly gift ; do not
think there is more than the heredity of good which
has been won by the diligence and virtue of ancestors ;
nor greater ability than that which healthful, pure,
godly parents, convey to their children. There is no
favouritism further than this : right doing blesses the
good from generation to generation ; and evil doing
curses a man even to his latest posterity. Everything,
good and bad, goes beyond the visible to the invisible.
Sir Frederick Leighton being written to as to
whether there was such a thing as genius in art
without a hard apprenticeship, replied, " Nothing
considerable has yet been done in this world without
the bestowal of infinite pains." ^ Sir John E. Millais
answered a like inquiry, " I have no belief in what
^ Z)^^ ^SVdiw^ar^ newspaper. May 19, 189 1.
GOING BEYOND THE VISIBLE, 41
is called genius as generally understood. Natural
aptitude I do believe in ; but it is absolutely worth-
less without intense study and continuous labour." ^
The moral is, ^^ The ills we do, our own ill wills
instruct us to " ; then let us not " pick bad from bad,
but by bad mend." Thus shall every man go beyond
the visible, and obtain honour yet unseen.
The laws by which the relative order and regularity
of movement are maintained in the material world,
were for ages a mystery to human beings. Sir Isaac
Newton made a great advance when he carried the
visible falling of an apple into the invisible power of
gravity ; and greatly helped to show how wonderful,
all-guiding, and all-sustaining are the things unseen.
The accuracy of all this, and the comprehensiveness
of all this, have by later investigation and reflection
been carried into the thoughts of our mind, the
desires of our heart, and the religion of our soul. No
thought is by chance, nor desire fashioned out of
nothing, nor religion without some great reality. The
constitution of every world is such that the same
accuracy of rule governs the material and mental
domains, the world of natural desires and the world
of spiritual emotions. Whatever is seen, or heard, or
felt, or thought, or feared, or wished, is not a baseless
fantasy, but a phenomenon representing a vaster
reality. In the future it will be worse with the evil
man than he fears. The good will gather far more
than all that he knows or hopes. The cause of this
good effect, and of the effect defective, are alike unseen.
* The Standard newspaper, May 19, 1891.
42 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
This, however, we know. Study of Nature, of
History, of Scripture, shows that a Selective Provi-
dence acts everywhere. There is natural selection,
mental selection, spiritual selection. There has been
" much throwing about of brains '' concerning this ;
but there is something in it more than we see as yet,
and our advanced philosophy will sometime find it
out. In use of this truth, we shall all be better if we
enlarge our small faculties ; and, as to the greater,
render them more accurate. Out of small things and
events come large uses as did the removal of a few
shepherds from Shechem to Dothan (Gen. xxxvii.),
so important in the history of Joseph, of the Jews, of
the world. All great things are writ small in the
little, and all the little are magnified in the large.
Rudimentary teeth in the embryo whale seem use-
less, they pass away before the whale is born ; but
those who see no reason in this are the men who have
not carried the visible into the invisible, nor learned
the wonderfulness of unity in nature. Those rudi-
mentary teeth are not rudimentary, they do not
advance, they are relics of the past, and show oneness
in process as to all living things. The universe, in
all the variety, is one thought of God infinitely
expressed.
The great in the small, and small in the great, all
extending from the visible to the invisible, may be
seen in that lower part of the kingdom of Heaven, the
Gospel Kingdom.
To enter it, you must become as a little child. It
is as if you had to learn a great science. You begin
GOING BEYOND THE VISIBLE, 43
in good time, have faith in your teacher, and verify-
that faith by personal research. This does not mean,
insist upon demonstration of every statement in
Astronomy, in Chemistry, in Biology, in Christianity ;
but while learning, while a child in knowledge, think
as a child and believe as a child ; then, when ripeness
of knowledge is attained, you will see how wonderful
is the passage to larger reach, and your content shall
be so absolute that there is no other comfort like it.
You shall know how goodly is this frame of earth,
most excellent the canopy of air, and all the " brave
overhanging firmament, this majestical roof pressed
with golden fire." You shall admire your own
wonderfulness as man, noble in reason, almost infinite
in faculties, with form and movement admirable, how
like God who is the world's beauty.
We are very sorry for ungodly men ; they miss
even now a great gain and many consolations
owing to their shortsightedness. This defect in their
vision leads to falling short in their efforts. They
seem less reasonable than the lower animals, whose
instincts unfailingly connect them with their sur-
roundings ; for these men neglect the universal ideas
of right and wrong, of immortality, of powers above
them, and the capacity to attain closer and more
intimate relations with the Higher Intelligence,
from whom they emanate and whose nature they
share. They fail in the natural history of things, and
are blind to the spiritual, loving to have it so. They
do not search Holy Scripture as the Bereans did
(Acts xvii. 11). They turn back from the plough,
44 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
because they cannot all at once lay the field in
furrows. God will make some use of them sometime,
somewhere. In the shop of a skilled artisan are many
rough and crooked pieces, things half shaped, parts
widely scattered ; but they all belong to a work or
works not completed, not yet seen. When that unseen
is seen you will say, " How good it is !" Remember,
the lost asses were in part the means of winning a
throne and crown for Saul. Treasures generally lie
far out of sight. Only fools, "gross as ignorance
made drunk," forget this ; and those who pervert it
are practitioners in the " divinity of hell,'' for when
devils put on their blackest sins, they " suggest at
first with heavenly shows." Their doom, at present,
lies far out of sight.
Another series of circumstances, going beyond the
visible to the invisible, are those which seemingly
wrong are really right.
So-called material mischances, physical pains,
mental delusions, and all evils that seem rooted in
the devil, lead many people astray. Those who thus
find fault, because so much seems bad and useless,
depart from God, and, themselves, become most mis-
chievous. Discarding the idea of an intelligent God,
they weaken that common sense which says to them,
" Man is not only a proof of mind in nature, but the
strongest evidence of a higher creative mind from
which that of man emanates ; " and, as no effect is
without a cause, they attribute to atoms that which
they deny to God. Thus belittling themselves, they
are like many small creatures very mischievous.
GOING BEYOND THE VISIBLE. 45
They would have you think — because the barn doors
are shut and you cannot see through, that there is
nothing in the barn. These men are not good guides.
We know that for reasonable purpose and scientific
sacred aim the mountain masses are welded ; that
this purpose brightens in the stars ; that they are the
visible things of an invisible science ; and when this
now invisible science, this hidden thought of God, is
fully luminous in our minds the harmonies of the
universe will awake melody in our souls.
"Light that makest manifest,
Beautifiest, hallowest,
Light in Thy joyous strength at rest,
Come to us : come."
Litany.
VII.
'3rfte iSatural f^istotB of our Immortalitg :
^JTrutMulncss of our Jpaculties.
" Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free/' —
John viii. 32.
" For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ : till we all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." — Eph. iv. 12, 13.
THE lives, experiences, and actions of the human
race, are materials for the history of those
footsteps by which nations and individuals advance
to the great future. The process is internal and
external, making and controlling present circum-
stances, and developing them into a grand production.
The right efforts of men are thus directed, in what-
ever they do, to better what is done.
The actual work of the process, for the most part,
is hidden from view ; but unceasingly acts by an art
which, moulding nature into new forms and uses,
passes us on to greater affluence. Though much
hidden, the natural interference is made known to
the seeing eye by future events so casting their
( 46 )
TRUTHFULNESS OF OUR FACULTIES, 47
shadow before that we, foreseeing, know for what to
hope and prepare.
The process is further indicated by a predominating
influence of physical law and order in the material
universe, which is not less precise in man's intellectual
and moral nature. The influence is both universal
and particular ; the atom, the flower, the beast, the
man, the angel, every one has a special law impressed
on its own nature. The heavens and earth are both
concerned ; and afford, by passing into new stages,
and by foreshadows of that which is to come, a
natural history in the present time of our future state.
When the skies look grimly, they threaten blusters ;
even as our conscience, dark with the ills of unbelief
and behaviour, is aware that woes are stirring. Death
and reward, both alike, do threaten and encourage us so
to live that evils may pass away as dreams, and that the
fulness of good may make our future awaking happy.
Every human being who fails to surrender his
entire nature to this teaching, and to the verifying of
physical, intellectual, and moral truth, defeats that
for which he was brought into existence. It is not
required of any man to bow his mind and will in
unquestioning submission to his fellow-man ; but that
which Scripture teaches, which nature enforces, which
the common-sense of our race universally approves,
that we endeavour to realize our aspirations, and to
live our best thoughts, must be accepted in the
length and breadth thereof for the extension and
improvement of our whole corporeal, mental, and
spiritual structure.
48 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
An observant man, toward the close of a long life,
if he carefully examine his experiences, will see that
there has been a teaching influence, and that some
remarkable epochs in his existence coloured all the
future. Many elements may have gone to the making
or marring him ; but there is one quality essential to
a man, and without it he is not a man — truth. No
great life is lived, no noble work achieved, unless a
man is true to God ; then, being true to himself, he
will have that root of daring — faith, that right is right
for ever, and that the triumph of wrong cannot last.
He is a bold man who predicts the fate of another ;
there are many hidden strivings of the Spirit, and
compunctions, agonies of heart, whence improve-
ment may come ; but in the history of nations the
elements of a correct opinion as to their real state
and fate are in abundance. Sometimes the acting
influences and connecting links are so distinct that
the end may be apprehended with a near approach
to accuracy. Had we true histories, we should see
developed the dread power of good and evil of which
the monition is planted in our bosom.
To say man is *' a feather for each wind that
blows," is a wrong and rash statement which deserves
rebuke in the words of our great poet —
** I ne'er heard yet,
That any of these bolder vices wanted
Less impudence to gainsay what they did,
Than to perform it first."
Winter's Tale^ act iii. so. 2.
Words that remove such folly are " as medicinal as
true." To purge man of that humour which presses
TRUTHFULNESS OF OUR FACULTIES. 49
him from right conduct, and to remove that ignorant
credulity of unbelief which will not come to the truth,
is the great lesson afforded by the natural history of
our future state. " No man," says Professor Max
Miiller, "is an atheist by nature or birth, only by
artifice and education." Men everywhere believe,
because of roots growing deep in their nature ; and
the universality of faith is a proof of Divine planting.
We are what we are, and our future will be co-
ordinate, would be a fact irresistibly strong were it
intelligently drawn by every man himself from the
precise laws which not less govern mind than matter.
The sun rises, attains the meridian, and sets, with no
greater accuracy than act the powers in our physical,
mental, and spiritual constitution. The material con-
ditions of the earth's four quarters are not more the
cause of their inhabitants' physical condition, than
were those influences which, acting on Jerusalem,
Greece, Rome, Britain, gave them civil polity and
religious faith. Though it be so, laws and influences
are neither so rigid nor exacting but that we can
either use or abuse them. It lies much in ourselves
that we are thus and thus. The balance of our lives
is not so poised with reason in one scale and folly va
another, that we are enforced to set any rigid con-
clusions. There are inner forces called up by our
will, and so we disclaim the purposed evil, and give
effect to thoughts most generous of good. This
liberty shows that we are not shams, like the painting
of a sorrow, nor as a face without a heart ; nor are
the thought and the desire of immortality imparted
E
50 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
without the purpose that we should use them. We
call up our God-like reason, rouse our capability,
make our life glow; and then heaven's face shines,
and earth bears fruit, in such wise that the well-
ordered promise and potency of our existence grow
clearer and clearer, as a history, throwing light on
the life yet to come.
Our reasonable liberty has four aspects of power.
That by which science changes and guides so many
natural processes that they yield a greater good.
That by which with care and skill we so aid our own
physical constitution that we transform weakness and
malady into vigorous health. That by which, as
communities and individuals, we better our political
and pecuniary affairs. That, best of all, which in use
of Divine grace enables us to attain power, wisdom,
joy, and higher life, in drawing nigh to God. Every
one of these forms of liberty and power is a chapter
in Itself of our living natural history, in which may
be greatly foreseen what will happen in the near
future here, and in that further hereafter where we
hope to flourish and prosper.
He who denies this fourfold liberty, should state
how, without it, we are to train men so that they be
both self-restraining, and rightly self-assertive. Let
him observe that all forms of existence, known to us,
possess a remarkable adaptation to their particular
state and place. This rule is observed as to men
and their characters. John Knox would be out of
place did he censure Queen Victoria as were she the
former Mary ; nor would the patriots who opposed
TRUTHFULNESS OF OUR FACULTIES, 51
Charles I. find the same necessities and occasions for
resistance now ; nor could the opponents of Romish
superstition and of Laud's narrowness justify present
opposition to our English Church of larger freedom.
Let those whose character is yet in hardness show
their skill by a new construction.
This adaptation of living things to their state and
surrounding possesses further application. Our
insight as to meaning exceeding present uses, and
our foresight as to that which will happen, not only
concern the handbreadth of space and time now
occupied ; but are that operation of our whole nature,
physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, which extends
far and wide in space and time. All abridgments
have distinctions and circumstantial branches in which
our knowledge should be rich. Our life is a Book of
Immortality, our faculties are as the law and prophets
therein. Holy Scripture is the light of God's Spirit
whereby we read and fully understand ; advanced
science is that schoolmaster by whose discipline we
use the light more skilfully, and our faculties more
largely with discretion ; so that the present power of
life is helped by all the offices of nature.
We say science, for in the same way and sympathy
by which we combine our practical and aesthetic
faculties to use and advance the exercise of nature's
powers that we may be skilful in art ; in the same
way that we apply imagination, chastened by reason
and experiment, to discover the laws and harmonies
of nature to form verified science ; in that same
manner do we unite practical aesthetics, imagination
52 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
and reason, in those further mental, moral, spiritual,
voluntary researches and verifications, by which we
discover that as our faculties are correct and lead to
right uses in dealing with material elements, with
plants, with animals and specially with our fellow-
men, so are they trustworthy as to those greater facts
in which it is most of all important to be correct.
The correctness is a natural stamp, a wise donation
of true evidence.
Every fear that we have with regard to physical
dangers, represents some possibility of actual hurt.
Every hope that a sound mind indulges, is the mute
prophecy of good that may be attained. Every
desire of the heart for more love and purity, is a light
that guides to holiness. Even so, every fear and
hope and light as to the future is a not less infallible
indication of a fearful future for the wicked ; of joy-
fulness for the good ; of holiness for the pure-hearted.
The fulfilment will be found in that immortality which
awaits every soul.
Another Verification as to the Truthfulness of
OUR Faculties.
There was One, the wisest and best of men, who
for our sake remained forty days in the far-off wilder-
ness. Without anything to eat, and nowhere to rest,
He was tempted to do wrong, and to help Himself in
an unnatural way. " If Thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread." Why
should He not make bread ? He could do it in an
instant. It was no harder to make a stone into
TRUTHFULNESS OF OUR FACULTIES. 53
bread, than of the same or similar elements to make
a strawberry or an apple. It was not right, because
He was there as an example of patience, of trust, of
obedience, to men who could not do such a work
of wonder ; to poor, hungry, tempted men, unable to
resist temptation or to supply their want by means
of miracle ; to men, whose faculties, physical, mental,
moral, had to be disciplined, improved, and made to
be helpers and deliverers by natural exercise. If
when we are tempted to steal, to forget and forsake
God, we had not the example of our Saviour who, by
not using His Divine Faculty for personal help,
showed confidence that God would enable Him by
patience, by endurance, by force of character, to over-
come in the appointed natural way ; we should be
without the divinest, best, most natural proof that our
faculties are powerful enough, accurate enough, if well
used, to conduct us through life in the best manner,
with best results, into that future of which the life
that now is, and the powers now possessed, are the
reliable assurance, the accurate guide, and the potential
prophet. When we are crossed, hindered, and gifts
seem delayed, we are made the stronger to be the
more delighted. None want eyes to direct them in
the way, nor power to use them, but those who neglect
the gift.
'* Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to heaven ; the fatal sky
Gives us free scope ; only doth backward pull
Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull. "
VIII.
®6e i^atural l^istorg of our Immortalitg: ^bgsical
Jfacts 'STfiereof.
" Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee ; and the fowls of the
air, and they shall tell thee : or speak to the earth, and it shall teach
thee : and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth
not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this ? In
whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all
mankind." — ^JOB xii. 7-10.
IT is not needful to speak of plants which out of
seed-existence grow to life in the earth, life
on the earth and thence over the earth. We will
not mention birds and some other creatures which,
passing from narrow egg-limits, enter wide sky-
expanse. We pass over the metamorphosis and
transformation of insects, of fishes, of reptiles, of some
quadrupeds, and other creatures. The instincts which
lead to migration into new scenes, of hibernation in
apparent suspension of life, and of those various
conditions when life seems hidden for a time that it
may be more manifest at another time. All these we
pass over, because well and sufficiently have they
been used as indicative of many shapes and of many
( 54 )
PHYSICAL FACTS THEREOF, 55
futures belonging to life. We take up unwonted
themes.
Not only do we have examples of the lower and
the higher as seen in lifers grades, but in everything.
Draw a line — apparently it is a straight line, really it
is part of a spherical curve. Strive all that we can to
make a line perfectly level, we shall see, when viewing
it through a microscope, that it is a curve, and jagged
with many irregularities. The ideal, the perfect, is
always beyond us, lies in the future. Our duties and
privileges demand perfection in their uses, and we
endeavour to medicine ourselves with good advice,
and to answer both in every part during our span of
life. Alas ! though the life that we prescribe for may
be prolonged, faultiness and death do seize the doctor
too. All this makes us long for more life and better.
The longing is natural, and being natural has, like all
natural things, an unseen counterpart — the life which
is to come ; for the fingers of the powers above do
tune the harmonies of this lower sphere.
Sometimes fiery comets, meteors, and other signs
come into our world from the worlds far off. The
superstitious behold them as tokens of many evils, a
displaying of Satan's invisible world. This lower level
of intelligence is raised by knowledge into the stage
of higher science that interprets those fiery signs as a
telegraphy from worlds to worlds. They are signals
concerning sun and earth, moon and planets ; pro-
cesses which winnow truth from falsehood. They
are movements of far-journeying, states which, as
the tongues of dying men, or as solemn music,
56 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
enforce attention. They are perspectives of powers,
of movements, of life beyond our own, and our spirit
sees them as gleams of immortality.
Take sharpest needle point, it seems pointed beyond
all fineness, a perfect work ; yet the microscope shows
that it is not a point, but a plane ; and not rounded,
but with hills and valleys many. This imperfection
of human work is in contrast with the perfection of
nature's work, and as we lift up that we do in
endeavour to equal what is done in nature, we attain
those higher levels of skill which distinguish the artist
from the rude workman, and give him many delights.
Every man, worth the name, is always seeking some
betterment, and will not cease till all be v^ron.
" The time of life is short ;
To spend that shortness basely, were too long."
In all this shortness, and with smallest, weakest
things around us, all stretching into the vast of space
and the immeasurable of time, we find in them and
in ourselves a something imperishable that comes
from God. Something like a Line of Life which, as a
necklace-thread, holds all together and gives con-
tinuity. We know that He is with us and with them.
He is the everlasting Now. He is the everlasting
Here, our Immortality, our power of endless Being.
There is more meaning in this and in everything
than little and low understandings dream of. Rush-
lights and sulphur matches, like little understandings,
are innumerable. They resemble those who think
that no inscrutable, nor venerable mystery is to be
found ; who try to illumine every cranny of art and
PHYSICAL FACTS THEREOF, . . 57
cesspool of nature ; to dissect and distil dry bones,
and flesh, and blood ; but the grand Tissue of all
tissues is quite overlooked. Science will never be rid
of wonder, whatever low minds think, nay insists on
the value of universal wonder, that Natural Parables,
like the Gospel Parables, concern the Kingdom of
Heaven as seen on earth. The power given us to
believe this, to know this, manifests not to our eyes
only, but to our hearts. It is the Life of God in us,
around us, giving to all who understand the meaning
an assurance of life everlasting. Our mystical facul-
ties, piercing the time element and material garb,
find everywhere avenues to the future.
Duverney, celebrated as an anatomist, noted in the
respiration of a carp the use of at least four thousand
three hundred and ninety-seven organs. Sixty-nine
are muscles ; eight principal arteries in the gills throw
forth four thousand three hundred and twenty rami-
fications ; and in this manner the blood is exposed
in very small parts to the action of the air that every
particle, afresh and afresh, may be made instinct with
life. These are little matters, but show great art in
nature and extend to things more than could be
thought to begin from such trifles. Thoughtful men
bring them into relation with those great faculties
of Divine love, reverence, and worship which look
through all illusions and discern that existence is not
the sparkling phantasm of a moment, but world-
enveloped, cradled in space, and moving in time a
beautiful light of the everlasting of whose presence
we knovv.
58 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
The trunk of a fly is of more ingenuity than that
of an elephant. The strength and bold soar of the
eagle are marvellous ; but the common fly, feeble as
it is, without any defensive armour in the midst of
dangers, takes a flight which for its strength is both
bolder and longer. A bee makes its hexagonal cell
with more mechanical skill than Newton possessed,
and never attempts another figure ; but Newton, with
wants of a higher kind, traces on earth the curves
described by stars in the heavens ; extends these to
infinite space, and rejoices in the awful idea of Him
who created the universe. Newton was not weak-
minded, that we may neglect his opinions. He was
a sort of space-annihilating man, a time-annihilating
man, and most firmly believed in immortality, because
more than many men all compounded into one he
knew whence things come and whither things go.
Faith and knowledge thus awakened, our conscious-
ness of life and power goes beyond phenomena, from
the finite to the infinite, from the temporal to the
eternal. Partaking of the infinite and the eternal,
one joy crowning another, we are not alone in the
earth, nor when our thought flies to the stars are our
souls without a sanctuary. The Divine Idea is every-
where, and God everywhere is with us.
The infinite universe is not altogether to God
Himself, He is not alone, we enjoy it too ; and with
enlarging faculties fulfil our wishes as they rise ;
because we find, and shall ever find in Him, a power
infinitely to live. We are not surprised at the
wonders, we are made to wonder.
PHYSICAL FACTS THEREOF. 59
Nature is of infinite expansion, of infinite depth,
and our experience does more than read it. We see,
we hear, we feel ; every sense has an apprehension.
More than that, they and all things are prophets,
dexterously untwining the vast intertwisting of events,
and by dexterous recombination they find that the
course of Providence leads on and on for ever and
ever. Neither we, nor shall anything else be lost.
Animals have their peculiar characters giving
specialness to every faculty. They have will, and
with design use their sensitive powers. The cat is
different from a mouse, and a wolf from a sheep, and
they know it. A spider, coming out of the little ^g'g,
weaves its own transparent workmanship without
waiting for a model web. All things grow as our
knowledge grows. When we take the day as an
image of life, of our dawn, of our morning, of our
midday, and of evening, that physical sense, telling
us of a new day following on after night, is enlarged
by the testimony of a spiritual sense that a day is
coming of which God will be the everlasting Sun,
and His infinity the measure thereof. That Sun, not
the sun of our planetary system, gives the true
effulgence in which we see and by which we live. The
life of it is in every star of the sky for physical use,
in every healthful mind of man for mental use,
and there are a thousandfold accompaniments, rich
symphonies of celestial influences, making melody in
our hearts, gladdening our souls, and leading us on
divinely.
The earth, in all its parts, duly corresponds. The
6o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
valleys and mountains are figures expressive of use
and purpose ; while the universe as a whole is one
vast pantheon-workshop for the display of service by
man and all things unto God. The dictates, the
instincts of our soul, are not less true and infinitely
grander than all with which our other and lower
fellow servants in the earth are endowed. Nature in
its perpetual renewal, in the enjoyments we possess
of it, and in our relinquishment of the present for the
sake of a better life, is itself a vast drama of far-
extending acts. Augmentation and multiplication,
the collecting and combining of elements to supply
the wants of plants and animals, the harmonies of
trees with water, wrought by invisible power, have a
language, and say, " Cast forth thy act, think thy
thought, live thy life, for it is an ever-living, an ever-
working universe, nothing is lost." What is unnoticed
to-day is', nevertheless, of continual growth ; and
whatever time displays is a vesture of the Eternal.
An instinct, moreover, is in man not found in any
other animals. When he dies he looks toward
Heaven, and beyond every earthly memory. He
expects a mansion in the skies. Our soul, said the
Emperor Marcus Aurelius, "is a god in exile."
Truly there is in our mind not a memory, but an idea
of Him who made us ; and, as He does nothing in
vain, our persuasion of future life in a higher sphere
is stamped with truth. Men in old time well thought
that the palaces of the muses and the palaces of the
gods were placed on high, above the majesty of
mountains. They, apart from any Bible-teaching,
PHYSICAL FACTS THEREOF. 6i
discerned that life's pleasant career was guided by
a superintending Providence. The conviction of an
over-ruling Wisdom is to us a more established truth.
It keeps our soul in peace, is the polar star of our
physical and our moral existence. It grasps all
things on the earth, stretches a hand to the sky, and
in the courses of the stars, and in the lower cycles of
earth's life, reads the natural history of Immortality.
Teachers of sacred truth mostly play too much on
one string. Their hearers listen, as to false smooth
reports, counting the comforts unreal, and worse than
true wrongs — because not proven. It is time to show
that not only the Holy Bible, but the other great
Scripture, Nature, bodes to reason and imagination
other forms and realities, as yet to sense unknown,
and framed by skill invisible. It is to correct those
who put mensuration and numeration in place of
worship, of reverence ; and to give a clearer flame
than the darkling light borne by self-satisfied sceptics
who walk with rattle and lantern in the day-time ;
we would prove that no natural production is a bolt
of nothing shot at nothing.
The most familiar objects are too often not only
unknown, and what is worse, misknown ; for what
are the thronging floods of life and the tumbling in
of events, but a stream from eternity to eternity ?
The past and future are greater realities than the
now, which is but a moment. Were we not earth-
blinded, we might obtain not less real replies from
things to come, than we do from those that are gone
by. What are the living walking apparitions of men,
62 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of women, of children, but souls made visible? The
joyful and the sorrowing, those dying and the being
born, are inwoven as parts of sublimity dwelling here :
for life is sublime, and man is, Chrysostom said, " the
true Shekinah," God's Presence manifested.
** Still with Thee — when purple morning breaketh.
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee ;
Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight,
Dawns the sweet consciousness — I am with Thee ! "
H B. Stawe.
IX.
Wbt iEatural l^istorj) of our Immortalitg : ^S^sical
^gmbols ^fieuof.
" The elevation of the human race will move forward with accelerated
speed, accompanied, unhappily, by increased efforts in hostile quarters
to restrain that progress onward to enlightenment, liberty, and purity :
but all opposition, of whatever form or degree, will be ultimately over-
borne, and the final and certain triumph of the great Redeemer's
avowed intentions will be revealed at the appointed time in the full
fruition of the earthly results of that great decease which He accom-
plished at Jerusalem." — Divine Footsteps in Human History, p. 405.
Published by William Blackwood &^ Sons.
QYMBOLS.? What are they.? They are those
O things and events which, materially based on
the visible, extend their meaning to the fathomless
depths and infinite heights. They are all the things
which God hath made. " The heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy-
work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto
night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor
language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is
gone out through all the earth, and their words to
the end of the world." They witness of their Creator.
The meaning gives the transcendental significance of
( 63 )
64 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
matter, of power, of life, bodying forth to our sensible
apprehension the eternal God. Rightly understood,
whatever was and is and will be is for ever. The
universe and all in it are a symbol, the " Time-vesture
of God," which reveals Him to the wise, and hides
Him from the foolish.
Our knowledge, which is the meaning and the
experience we have of things and events, advances
from the mechanical and physical to the mental and
moral signification. In the uses of knowledge, we
more and more become consciously related to nature,
to our fellow men, and to God. Whatever we find
around us acts by a trinity of operation sending
impulse to our physical senses, information to our
mental faculties, and motives to our moral capacity.
Not less based on reality are our spirits and minds
than our physical senses, nor less accurate when used
with equal care to that bestowed on our bodies.
They go beyond the seeming of natural events, from
strange to stranger strengthen ; for all places that
the eye of Heaven visits, every grass-blade and
specially the living soul, go from mystery to mystery ;
till all stand clear when we are at home with the
immortal living Host.
No man should separate for disuse and disparage-
ment those holy mental powers which nature has put
together. In the exercise of human charity, heart and
mind should act as two sisters : heart prompting,
mind guiding. In acts of divine reverence and wor-
ship, heart and mind are lifted up by the spirit, so
that the Universe is one vast symbol of God ; and
PHYSICAL SYMBOLS THEREOF. 65
Holy Scripture, aided by science, gives thereof the
interpretation. The things around us, as Carlyle said,
are not here on their own account, but are emblems
and symbols of greater power and greater life, to
show that what our soul holds most dear are on
before, and reveal new coming Eras.
There is a far-off in what is nigh, a height in what
is low, a vastness in the small, and a life in all that
seems dead. We find it because there is such an
incipiency and a sortedness of life even in the in-
animate that every metal and earth has its nature ;
and when we think of the imperceptible gradations
by which the inorganic becomes organic, by which
metals and earth in certain forms are crystals, and
thence progress into plant and animal life ; we see in
all, even the lowest created bodies, a symbol of God's
own force. The Son of God Himself has told us to
consider the Lilies of the Field, and we do consider
them. The best of knowledge, the best of zeal, the
best of worship, is Scriptural. When we have most
knowledge, most zeal, and worship most, it will be
according to the law and testimony of Jesus Christ
who has brought life and immortality into blissful
light by the Gospel.
The force and wonder are everywhere. Insects see
through a microscopic eye. Birds, frequently as with
a telescope. The instincts of both are limited to a
few sorts of industry ; but man's eye, man's mind,
admits light for every kind of knowledge. The eye,
as good servant of the mind ; the mind, as good
servant of the spirit, enabling it to learn of a Supreme
F
66 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
Governor, and that the harmonies of the universe all
speak of Him. Man further learns that no speck,
nor spot, nor cranny, can be separated from the
whole of creation. The fuel of those fires which
smelt the iron and steel for our engines and ships of
war was sent us by the sun. Their light and heat are
fed by an influence circulating beyond the most
distant star. Our own senses, thought, will, are clever
affinities of human life and spirit ; are victories won
in us and by us over matter by means of matter led
by spirit. Thus man's force and life, all commanding
in our earth, belong to the vital system of a Living
Immensity by whom, through His dwelling in us, and
our dwelling in Him, we have immortality. This, the
real meaning of universal history, is a knowledge
worth striving for.
Speech, or language, is a wonderful symbol.
Viewed mechanically, written to give permanence to
history, to cosmography, to philosophy, it promotes
the growth of mind. Speech, philosophically re-
garded, is thought made vocal ; and thought is as a
photograph in the brain-chamber of a light and
movement somewhere else. Our attention to thought,
and stretching of speech that thought may be duly
expressed, are a fixing in the flesh of those unseen
processes by which all that is material and all that is
spiritual are writ small in the brain for use of the soul
in its vital relations with the body and the mind.
The whole is of admirable workmanship. There is
concealment and yet revelation. Beautifully linked
speech not being able to reveal the whole of thought.
PHYSICAL SYMBOLS THEREOF, 67
nor thought capable of understanding all that is
revealed. They are like the union of heaven and
earth in which distances infinite, time immeasurable,
and science inexhaustible, are in relation to our own
mortal life helping it to become immortal. Light,
thought, language, deal with worlds so far off that no
mortal imagination is able to conceive the vastness of
the wide-separating abyss ; yet the retina of our eye,
the small fraction of an inch in diameter, represents
the vast display of Omnipotence ; and our brain, the
mind's organ, closed within the upper part of our
head, acquaints itself with the all-combining Wisdom,
the universal Life of the manifested God, in whom
we all live ; and this knowledge and life assure us
that we shall live.
" Light," said Plato, " is a shadow of the Deity."
It is that by which, even when our belief in Him is
extinguished in heart and mind, we may view His
works in heaven and earth, and again find our way
to Him. We thus are also able to trace, as Plato
further stated, that the visible world is only an
outline, or image, of the real world where all those
things are actual of which we now possess but the
shadows. The poorest amongst us, were he weak as
a withered leaf, cannot be separated from that God,
nor be deprived of immortality. Every part of his
body, and all the forces, are as windows through
which he looks on infinity. His soul, noblest of all,
is a soul by power of everlasting inspiration.
It is certain, this world being a shadow, so to speak,
of God's Light, that all evil, physical and moral, is
68 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
but temporary. Evil is darkness, and light will dispel
that darkness. Evil is as those distortions and
deviations of shadow when the true shapes of things
are disguised ; in a little while the true shapes and
proportions will be revealed. A blind man, when his
eyes are first opened, does not by the shape of his
limbs know that they are his own. By use of light
and sight, disciplined by the mind, he learns to
know himself; and this knowledge, so obtained, is a
symbol of the way in which, when our own light
is clearer and our vision purged, enlarged wisdom
will discern Divine Providence everywhere conduct-
ing to great issues and guiding man to full pos-
session of immortality. The clothing of mortality
will be put off, and the garments of immortality be
assumed.
Existing laws of matter and mind are providential,
but not absolute, not unchangeable and irresistible.
In every art and manufacture, in all science and
philosophy, we work and reason on the accepted and
practically verified truth that natural laws may be
used to modify one another in remedy of evil, and
obtain ment of greater than the good already in reach.
There is a growth always. It was from chaos to
creation, clearing of the sky, rounding of worlds ; and
no animal, no bird, no insect, puts forth at once all
its beauty ; or is, in character, all of which it will be
capable. Those laws of gravity and light and life
once unknown ; and, when known, deemed to be
inimitable and irresistible ; are now often imitated
and restrained. Wind and storm, rain and heat,
PHYSICAL SYMBOLS THEREOF, 69
electricity and life, are made greatly subservient to
many uses. Our art imitates nature's art, our science
is acquired in her school, our mental force is gained
by working with her, until, by a Wisdom restraining,
the spheres being more and more manifested in and
by us, we act and live by a power and life of which
no limit can be fixed. Scornful, unbelieving men
may call our reason a worthless rag. Despise not a
rag. Of a rag we make paper, and on that paper
print words mighty in thought and pictures full of
beauty. On our mind called a rag God prints the
natural history of our immortality and impresses the
picture of His own Likeness,
Love and knowledge and worship seem to be the
great factors in this advance from rudimentary things
to the knowledge of God. Wisdom and power
established the harmony of shape and colour. These
were in relation to motion and life, but it was not till
love and worship came that things and persons were
filled with beauty. The finest painting is only surface,
the noblest sculpture is without life, nor has any man
by the most skilful long-continued processes, by any
fire, by any magnetism, been able to awake the dead
into life. Life is God's gift, and to it is added the
grace of love. Love, and we include loves of the
plants, multiplies life ; and this life-giving love is a
symbol of the Love of God. He clothes His power
and wisdom with love. He spreads the light, warmth,
and life of it through all worlds. They are kindled,
they are brightened. Those once dark are made to
revolve around His throne of light. As they roll the
70 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
hemispheres are presented to the warmth divine.
The oceans flow within limits, winds move according
to horizons, clouds receiving solar rays streak the air
with gold and vermilion, plants take flower passing
into fruit, birds build their nests and make wood and
field resound with song, man delighted with so much
beauty, animated by love so great, worships God who
is the Giver of all.
Man knows the universe as a grand symbol of
power, of wisdom, of love, all subduing. In the life
of it he lives, in the knowledge of it he grows, the
power of it he uses, and in his best estate serves God
with all his heart and mind and soul and strength.
Gently is he led on. He whom truth rules, where'er
his path may be, walks safe and sacred. His speech
will not drawl like a tortoise. Knowledge, not lightly
won, will not be wickedly spent. Imagination and
reason, duty and delight, not at war with one another,
give in harmony independence to thought ; and,
bold as true, reverent as free, he lives not less as
man in the business of life, than holy as son of God
in view of heaven. He knows, he feels, every faculty
is possessed of the truth, that the light of nature is
God's light to show him the way to brighter, greater,
more glorious realms of immortality. He is not like
that struggling sculptor who, having finished, what
seemed a perfect work, the model of a beautiful
human figure, was ready to perish. The cold pierced
him, hunger pinched him ; but there, in his Parisian
garret, taking off his coat, he wrapped it round the
model to preserve it from the frost so destructive of
PHYSICAL SYMBOLS THEREOF, 71
the plaster. He fell asleep, and when morning broke
he was found dead beside his work. Not so will it
be with us. Death will be the messenger with more
life and fuller. The grave will be the vestibule of
Heaven. Our white shroud, the garment that tells
of glorious immortality.
" For lo, the days are hastening on
By the prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold ;
When Peace shall over all the earth
Its promised splendours fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing."
Sears,
l^atural l^istorg of our Immortalftg : ^fiitefolif
CBxistence.
" Death for the body with life is combined,
Darkness disputes with the h'ght for the mind,
While spirit leaps upward, if good it desires,
Or, chained to the earth by its sin, it expires.
God is our Life, and our Light and Upraising ;
Whom God doth uplift shall never cease praising."
Felix Melancthon.
MAN'S nature is of a triple character. In the
body, he is the chiefest earthly organism. In
the soul, most excellent, but of that same sentient
living existence which is given to other animals. In the
spirit possessing, by grace of the Creator, those higher
qualities of reason, of imagination, of emotion, which
constitute him the likeness and representative of God.
" One, yet three — in triple strain
Man is made, nor made in vain."
Felix Melancthon.
This threefold nature of man is in relation to the
three modes of his existence. In his body, so related
to the material universe as to be a personal representa-
tion of what that universe is, impersonally ; an organic
meeting' place of the visible and the invisible. In his
( 72 )
THREEFOLD EXISTENCE. 73
soul, not only living as do other animals, but living in
a higher manner, so that the life in the body, though
necessarily tending to dissolution, is lifted up, from
the murky suburbs of low existence into higher vital
exuberance of more mental copiousness and greater
versatility. The body is a garment of the soul, the
soul is a clothing for the spirit, and the spirit is a
light and life kindled by the Divine breath, a power
bestowed by the Almighty. By that light the mean-
ing of things is seen and the presence of God is dis-
cerned. By that power is conveyed strength, with
freedom of will to perform those duties which God
enjoins, to enjoy those privileges which God confers,
and to attain those higher states which God promises.
This threefold human existence of body, soul, and
spirit is conditioned to partake of earthly life, inter-
mediate life, and heavenly life. All which life is
subject to Christ (Phil. ii. 10). Being subject, we
have not only to keep our flesh and blood in order,
that the body may be under control ; not only to
regulate and elevate the soul, that it may consort
with the self-respect and consciousness of dignity
arising from responsibility ; but also to strengthen
the spirit that it may victoriously wrestle against
principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness, and
spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. vi. 1 1- 13).
" Body, in thy Temple blest,
Deigns the Holy Ghost to rest.
Spirit, unto God aspire,
Lo ! on thee, is His desire.
Mind, if Christ in thee be dwelling.
Thine is peace that passeth telling."
Felix Melancthon,
74 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
The natural history of immortality, as being the
natural manifestation in man, embraces the whole of
his human state. It is as a threefold wheel, every
one having wheels within wheels.
The Bodily Existence.
By turns waking and sleeping, with whatever is
connected therewith, our body gives locality, definite-
ness, and a temporary home to the incorporeal and
heavenly parts of our nature. We thus obtain
acquaintance with time, motion, locality ; and acquire
experience in reference to all those varieties of grada-
tion which belong to the material world. We are
also taught to connect the vastness, array, majesty,
and forces of matter, with that intelligible scientific
order which enlightens our intelligence, so that we
are aware of a will and purpose in the universal
government. We further learn, while in the body,
that the spirit is a light making the soul a lamp
illuminating the body with a sense of responsibility
concerning our duty to God and to our fellow-
creatures. Thus, our intellectual, moral, religious
conceptions, are in definite alliance with the course,
the meaning, and the service of physical nature ; so
that we rid ourselves of remoteness and uncertainty
as to God, the future and the unseen. Our intel-
lectual and moral and spiritual structure, built up
within material walls, warrants the physical theory,
confirmed by Scripture, that the body and the worlds
around us are to possess that permanence which a
THREEFOLD EXISTENCE, 75
Divine Mind purposes, and a Divine Hand works :
a permanence secured to the body by the passing of
it through a fire of discipline into pure condition, for
the habitation of a soul and spirit renewed in
righteousness.
The Intermediate State
Is that of the soul and spirit apart from the body.
It is not less natural than our present condition. It
is of such close futurity, and so near as to space, that
we enter it the very moment we die. In a sense, it
is more home-like than the life that now is, for we
remain longer in it. One of the facts of it seems to
be that it is rather condition than locality. Not so
much connected with ponderable masses and organic
material as with imponderable substance, with aethereal
media, and with senses which exercise in the body
makes definite and strong for higher uses and greater
activity.
All through nature, as it now is, run forces,
elements, movements, greatly influencing nature.
Heat generally expands matter ; light, galvanism,
electricity, make and awake many affinities of gases,
fluids, solids. Our intermediate state will doubt-
less advance our knowledge, and acquaint us with
very much more of the way in which the Creator
works material, physical, vital, and mental pro-
cesses infinitely great, infinitely small, and of infinite
variety.
We reasonably expect in the intermediate state a
76 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
higher condition of natural laws. Gravitation, intel-
lectual and moral, will bear some of us upward and
onward ; others, who have not in the bodily state
prepared themselves for that by co-operation with
God, will tend downwards by a sort of self-made
fatuity.
The living principle will be moral or immoral,
and worshipful or unworshipful, as when it lived
in the body. It will not be wholly dispossessed
of body, but have that more aerial clothing upon
the spirit, so St. Paul indicates, which is afforded
by the soul (2 Cor. v. 1-4), fitting it for further
growth towards nobler state. Right understanding
of Holy Scripture greatly expands our view of the
unseen world. Instead of descent, as to powers,
there will be an appetency for and an ascent of
force towards the expected nobler re-union of body
and soul.
Disbelief of these things, with which some men
think to flatter their intelligence, ought to be removed
by study of those remarkable acts which are ex-
hibited in the wider ranges of science. A familiar
and continual intermixture of the invisible and
impalpable everywhere. Mysterious evil existences
are with us even in our present corporeal state by
which we are reminded of colleagues and companions
of Satan ; and we are assured that comforting heavenly
presences pervade the universe. There is a vast
social economy of body, soul, and spirit, connecting
our present state with the near intermediate condi-
tion; and this rational intercourse will be more
THREEFOLD EXISTENCE, 77
realized, and seem more wonderful, when our earthly-
house of this tabernacle is dissolved.
*' One, yet three — a threefold cord
Man was made by nature's Lord ;
Body, thou must Temple make,
Spirit, life for Heaven, or quake ;
Mind, be pure, else, God deserted.
Cursed, thy doom is ne'er averted.'*
Felix Melancthon.
The Heavenly Condition
Is not destruction, but reproduction. It is that
higher system of being and life toward which rational
and responsible creatures, in the body and out of the
body, are tending. Present things and existences are
to be changed by improving and enlarging. Their
new creation will not render matter less complex, nor
do away with the warmth, sociableness, and joys, in
which we have been disciplined. Some of the pro-
cesses by which we ourselves now combine the
elements for more advantageous use, by which we
extract essences, and by which we give more per-
manent form to the changeable, are a kind of intro-
duction to Divine work in the world's renewal, in the
body's restoration, in the soul's and spirit's union with
the Supreme.
If we say our personal constituents — body, soul,
spirit ; with every material, vital, mental, and spiritual
constituent of the worlds ; will be consorted anew, as
they certainly will, we only advance somewhat beyond
what is actually now occurring, moment by moment,
without a pause. This consoling and energetic
78 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
principle, working new and real counterpoises, acted
through the past, moulds the present, and without
any destroying disconnection acts in the future. It
is the noblest feature of our personality, secures our
self-knowledge by continuous identity, we know our-
selves to be the same. It is the ground of our
intuition that God is not a power only, but a Person ;
that His Existence is the highest, the union of Will
with Wisdom and Power and Goodness. We, our-
selves, in threefold communion with Him, range above
our present selves. Not in forgetfulness of ourselves ;
not by loss of conscious individuality ; not by
abolishment of the privacy and recesses of our own
particular identity ; but by the taking away of
weakness, by banishment of the corruptible, by
enlargement of every present area, by a greater
independence and full development of whatever good
we now enjoy. Whatsoever Jesus Christ redeemed
as to the universe, as to our body, our soul, and our
spirit ; whatsoever He rose with from the grave ;
whatsoever He carried up to Heaven ; whatsoever is
seated on His Throne, — all that will constitute our
Heavenly Condition.
** Jesu, still lead on,
Till our rest be won ;
Heavenly Leader, still direct us,
Still support, console, protect us.
Till we safely stand
In our Fatherland. Amen."
H. L. L. {trans,).
XI.
Natural fBistorg of our Emmortalttg : HeaUmg
^rmciples^
" The information of the senses is adequate with the aid of mathe-
matical reasoning to explain phenomena of all kinds.*' — Professor
Challis, On the Fundamental Ideas of Matter and Force, PhiL Mag,
4th Series, vol. xxxi. p. 467.
*' That we would do,
We should do when we would ; for this world changes
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents."
Hamlet, act iv. so. 7.
First Principle : The Cause of all is the Eternal.
1"^HE worlds and their stages of progress are not
marked by boundless inconsistencies, purpose-
less irregularities, freaks without plan or principles.
Marks of supreme science are discerned everywhere,
and amidst all diversity is a close keeping to rule and
law. The histories of nature and of men are a
Biography of the Eternal. They are a revelation of
Power, working as Almightiness ; of Wisdom, acting
everywhere as the Omniscient ; of Holiness, display-
ing everywhere Divine Perfection ; of Goodness, as
revealing everywhere Divine Love.
( 79 )
8o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Second Principle: The Eternal is a Person.
Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Goodness, are the highest
conceivable constituents of Character ; and Personality
is the noblest imaginable existence of the Divine
Being. It is the concentration and revelation of
mysteries, as science is the classification of mysteries.
These two principles are universal : they prevail
everywhere. All matter is encircled and pierced by
them, all forces and efiects are the work of mind,
even as every movement proclaims a mover. The
facts may be thus worked out briefly : —
Matter, as a physical constant, whether we think of
some original mass without properties, or of atoms
with properties, the universe being constructed as it is,
resolves itself for all physical existence into action and
reaction, effecting changes by action of the Eternal
Power differencing the working forces of the universe.
This Eternal Power working towards far-off ends of
infinite complexity in limitless time and space, is
guided by adequate Wisdom. This Wisdom com-
prehends all in the embrace of Unity ; and presents
every given body of knowledge to our mind in as
great a variety of different lights as possible. Uni-
versal working in unity we can only understand as the
manifestation of purpose, and purpose is the attribute
of an ever-living Person who wills, who falters not in
His will, who creates nothing in vain, who is the
essence and source of all, the Giver of Immor-
tality.
LEADING PRINCIPLES, 8i
Third Principle : The Process is Complex,
Is physical, mental, moral, and of successive stages.
Taking matter as the basis and will as the animating
principle, the movement is from the structureless to
structure, from the inorganic to the organic, from the
sentient to the mental, from the mental to the
spiritual Our consciousness is an example of this
advance towards opulence and power. If our con-
sciousness fails us here, it cannot be trusted in any
science, all reasoning is vain, we are without light.
Non sine lumine, we are not without light. We
inspect the past, and find not so much a vast sepulchre
filled with the remains of many generations, but
records everywhere. Many inscriptions are effaced,
but manifold are the relics of wisdom and power.
The very dust moving on the surface of things, and
the forces causing that movement, are tokens of con-
tinuance as to life and strength, they start up and
say, " We are here."
Not only is every successive state of matter a re-
appearance of the past in new form ; every state and
stage of mind are representative of those preceding
and prospective of those to come. Amidst all alter-
nations is an advent of the old in new forms and
novel offices. Proof that Moral Power and Purpose
are at the helm, the good proceeds to more good, and
the bad to worse. By harmonious and simultaneous
activity of voluntary and involuntary functions, some
Supreme Master controls all for accomplishment of a
purpose. Without waste anywhere, even amidst
G
82 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
boundless profusion, without loss of any power, even
amidst display of limitless might, everything is repro-
duced and proceeds to give account of itself in the
future. Thus we are enabled to know of the past,
judge of the future, and as intelligent creatures make
some real progress in knowledge of the Infinite Per-
fection.
Fourth Principle : The Process is Universal.
Three facts connect the past and our present state
with the future : Extension in space. Variety of kind,
Possession of duration. As to space, there is no
reason, scientific or otherwise, why we should not
regard the universe as practically infinite. As to kind
or sort, it is so various that no two individuals of any
species are precisely alike. As to duration, we are
not able to cut off any living or unliving thing either
from relation to the past, or from some effectual
existence in the future. Whatsoever was anywhere,
is now in effect everywhere, though nowhere seen.
Whatsoever is, weaves in space a universal canvas for
its clothing, and paints its own character for good or
evil on an infinite page.
Fifth Principle : Human Advance.
This vastness of the visible universe, and the greater
vastness of the invisible, as they come within our
range of knowledge and ideality, are a gauge of our
intellectual and moral existence ; but our conceptive
LEADING PRINCIPLES. 83
faculty, our powers of arithmetic and language, can
as yet only take in a small part of the transcendental
whole. The little we know is not the measure of
what we shall be, the infinite unknown is the height
of our possible attainment. The present actual
mental belongings of our nature, discerning intricate
vast and distant relations, not only enter the distant
and future ; but, as a guarantee of that distant and
future being ours, we are able to bring near the
remotest relations ; and are able to condense, as into
a moment, vast timely processes of almost innumerable
links of truth and fact ; so that our physical, our
intellectual, our moral personality, with Godlike power
and immortality, takes a miniature of the universe
both as to space and time.
Certain mental and moral conditions in the mind
itself, with a perfectly co-ordinate physical arrange-
ment, are indispensable would we attain grasp of all
this. He who spreads out himself, from range to
range of science, in unfolding sublime mysteries ; and
then with insatiable thirst drinks in those excellent
thrilling and enthralling sublimities which enclose
and pervade all material grandeurs ; will gladly take
the supremacy that belongs to him. He feels that
the thought-forms of space and time are not mere
glimpses of 'immortality, but are that abiding light
and power which ensure possession by the Grace of
God.
" Mind of Christ, if mine Thou fillest,
Then my fears of wrath Thou stillest."
Felix Melancthon*
84 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
Exercise yourself a little in these high conditions.
The material world is not everything, the sky is not
one whole star, nor do living creatures fill full all
stars, nor fill even the earth. What is it that encircles
all ? There are expanses beyond whatever the eye
sees, or the mind imagines. At every ascent of
thought we behold supremer heights, with every
growth of power we feel further into the infinite,
and are yet within the populous dominions of the
Almighty. When we go most beyond ourselves,
when at our utmost stretch, we are least lost and
possess ourselves most effectively. These supreme
moments are high life to the poet, times of ex-
quisite skill to the artist, eras of discovery to the
investigator, and indicate that transcendentalness of
beauty and power is within our attainment. The
purpose of it, the proportions of it, are commensurate
with the thereto belonging Infinity. The affections
of spirit, our nature's power of communion with the
Infinite God, are the fruit of that good and highest
exercise of reason by which we know of God, and
that He is our God. These spiritual affections, these
exercises of reason, are means to an end sublime and
glorious.
Two experiences are known, only to mention two,
of the sublime and transcendental so connecting
human life and knowledge with the supernatural and
eternal that they give sufficient example of our being
able even now to pass from the mortal to the immortal
and yet retain our mortality till the time come for
laving it aside. Eliphaz, the Temanite (Job iv. 12-17),
LEADING PRINCIPLES. 85
found a spirit standing by, filling him with fear and
trembling, so that his bones quaked, who taught him
that man's mortal part was to die utterly, but that
God was above all, Holy and Good. The other
experience is that of St. Paul (2 Cor. xii. 2-4). While
in the body, he knew not whether he was really within
or without, he was caught up. Caught up, whether
in spirit only or in body also, he heard unspeakable
words, not lawful for a man to utter. This rapture,
by which St. Paul had a vision of the Lord, was an
upHfting of a mortal state into the immortal, of a
creature into the presence of the Creator, a foretaste
of the power, of the glory, of the immortality, our
inheritance.
Language cannot tell what is beyond the seas and
universes of worlds which spread out in innumerable
profusion and illimitable space ; nor is our conceptive
faculty any measure of that infinitude which permits
the visible sky to be repeated and multiplied millions
of times, and yet allows it to remain within the
embracing Infinite. The special advantage of speech
is that it shapes into definiteness and moulds thought
into expressed form. We might think we know what
really we know not, did we not linguistically shape
our knowledge. Speech is the mind's instrument to
make thought vocal, and is the medium of com-
munication between mind and mind, at the same time
giving fixity to our own thoughts, while adding
intellectual and moral wealth to ourselves and others.
Seclusion and individual privacy, while preserved by
the conscious power of extending our thought and feel-
S6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
ing to other minds, is that property of passing beyond
our inner selves, while retaining our inner selves, into
other inner selves by which men and angels hold
communion one with another. This sort of passage
into other beings and existences is an expansion
destined to move forward in the way of goodness and
felicity. It is a reality, not so much known by a
strange faculty of thought-reading possessed by few ;
not specially distinguished by the doubtful influence
which personal magnetism extends from individual
to individual ; it is more real and useful by means of
that sympathy with which the strong succours the
weak, the wise sustains the ignorant, the merciful
comforts and brings back the erring. It is the Christ-
Mind :
** Mind of Christ, if mine Thou guidest,
Then my all from wrath Thou hidest."
Felix Melancthon.
The highest style of the Christ-Mind is that sort of
penetrativeness by which noble natures and God,
noblest of all, inspire us with a grandeur, a power,
a lastingness, which overleap time and space ; and
give, as an inalienable portion, all and more than our
thought can grasp of God and Nature, of Time and
Eternity, of Space and Infinitude ; so that the Power
of the Eternal and the Life of the Eternal are ours.
"This having learned, thou hast attained the sum
Of wisdom ; . . .
All secrets of the deep, all nature's works,
Or works of God in Heaven, air, earth, or sea,
And all the riches of this world . . .
. . . Only add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable."
Milton, Paradise Lost, bk. xii.
XII.
Natural f^istorg of our Smmortalitg: 'ST^e ^rospectibe
lEnlargttntnt of our ^otom.
** Shall it, for shame, be spoken in these days,
Or fill up chronicles in time to come.
That men of your nobility and power
Did 'gage them both in an unjust behalf? '*
King Henry IF,, Part I., act i. sc. 3.
** My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire,
And my frame perish even in conquering pain,
But there is that within me which shall tire
Torture and Time, and breathe when I expire."
Childe Harold^ s Pilgrimage, canto iv. 137.
"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known." — i CoR. xiii. 12.
THE knowledge of a future life, so far as it is
authoritatively conveyed in Holy Scripture, is
God-directed and God-inspired. We have, besides,
Nature's forms and forces working in our life, our
sensations, our thoughts, our knowledge, so that the
Earth is the cradle of our existence. We have,
further, our consciousness continually enlarging with
notions of what is ; and, by advanced action on these
notions, we make the seen an introduction to the
C 87 )
88 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
unseen ; even as the movements of the electric needle
tell of the hidden mysterious power.
The manner of it is in this way. We examine a
fragment of the fossil of some ancient plant, or of an
animal, we then know the kind of nature each had,
the mode of life, and completed figure. We pass
from the plant and animal to man ; we know that he
has a higher nature than is possessed by an ordi-
nary animal, being one whose qualities and circum-
stances suggest that they are a preparation for, and
an introduction to, a higher life. It is the universal
principle of nature that no faculty nor function is
called into being, unless an appropriate sphere exists
for its employment. We know that the sooty smith
working a horse-shoe on his anvil, had the fire long
ago kindled by the sun, which prepared him coal-
force and his own force ; we know that the smith's
nerve-force and mind-force have very cunning little
affinities tending to great spiritual victories of mind
and matter, which connect him with a vital system
of immensity which carries him to an immortal
future. It is time for us all to know that there is
nothing stranded, nothing cast away. Whether we
trust to dawn of day, or choose utter darkness, we
shall certainly arrive somewhither.
Our anxieties and perplexities, activities and
capacities, push aside the veil which suggests and
yet conceals the future. We see what will be the
state of the sky in time to come, the changes in the
orbit and place of the earth, and what will be man's
condition. This advance of knowledge and possession
PROSPECTIVE ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS, 89
of a somewhat near future, notifies of a future more
distant and yet in accord with what is now ; because
for that near and that further future our body, soul,
and spirit are being disciplined. He who regards not
this for a good sign, shows small reflection of his wit.
Now view the past for an insight of the future.
Strong and subtle minds ransack past and present,
that they may pick the lock of mysteries and bring
to light natural secrets. We humbly follow in their
tracks that in natural truths we may find God's truth,
in its simplicity, to lead us into the vast complexity
of the same. The germ, or principle of life, begins
the first known action in a highly complex substance
formed of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, with very
minute quantities of other matter. It comes as a
force so that life looks like a form of some force that
itself lives. We cannot go any further in this direc-
tion ; but having the life which begins, say, in an ^g^,
by fertilizing, through a living creature, the dead or
non-living bioplasm in another living creature ; we
find in that ^g^ a complex living thing making itself
up by forming a number of special tissues out of the
matter in the ^gg until we see it fashioned as a bird.
Any other spore, or seed, in growing takes shape,
and passes as if spontaneously through many changes
until it is a perfect creature ; but we can no more get
the spore, the germ, the ^^^y from a dead nature than
we can make a world out of nothing. Having the
Ggg> we can again advance. Instead of death we now
have life. This life was a break in the former con-
tinuity, a new power, or power in a new shape.
90 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
Thence, by another break of continuity, by a new-
power, or power in a new shape, was an advance into
animal sensation and consciousness. The mysteiy is
not explained by science, science only formulates it.
After that another break in continuity, by a new
power, or power in a new shape, brought m the
higher faculties of man. These three breaks were all
caused by some process in an unseen universe taking
and making material shape in the seen world. Lay
aside the fact of a miracle, think simply of the three
advances. Now look at what the prophet Daniel saw
(vii. 13, 14). A new man standing before the Ancient
of Days, a king with a kingdom of Saints out of all
nations and of every language. Do not talk about
this being beyond the borders of science. Life, plants,
animals, men, in their beginning were and are now
beyond the borders of science ; but we know them, so
let us take knowledge of the fact revealed, and wait
for the formulation of it, by science, until we have
the new life that is immortal, and behold those new
men, so good ; who not less surpass earthly life, and
earthly men, as they are now, than these surpass the
no life, and the plant, and the beast.
Give the fact and thought other shapes. Whenever
reason outdoes the usual operations, we go beyond
ourselves. Were it not so, new discoveries could not
be made. Every new fact and every novel scientific
verified generalization, are an advance into realities
unknown before. To most thoughtful persons, who
study the future, our relations to it are based on inner
and outer things. Material bonds unite the outward
PROSPECTIVE ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS. 91
physical world to invisible influences, and inner
spiritual bonds knit our growing powers into adequate
relations with that state toward which we tend.
Certainly there is a Providential Plan running through
all ages, a material and a spiritual process making for
a brilliant future. " 'Tis so strange, that, though the
truth of it stands off' as gross as black from white, some
eyes will scarcely see it." Had every thinker the spirit
of persuasion, that his speaking might move ; and every
hearer the ears of profiting ; that profiting, mixed
with faith, would lead the soul to mount on high even
while the body sinks downward to the grave. Science
is possible only on the hypothesis that all change
is in its nature transformation. Apart from this
hypothesis, it cannot determine, from the present
state of things, the past on the one hand, nor the
future on the other ; " for government, though high,
and low, and lower, put into parts, doth keep in one
consent ; congruing in a full and natural close, like
music."
Our body is both natural and spiritual. This
spiritual in the natural is preparing the natural to
become itself spiritual. " There is first the natural
body, and after that the spiritual body." Meanwhile,
the natural body turns material things into a power of
sensation, of consciousness, of thought, making the
natural spiritual for that body which will be. The fact
is distinctive enough now, as to that which belongs to
matter, and it points to a wonderful future (i Cor. xv.
46) which David anticipated in his Thunder Psalm
(xxix.) " The voice ^of the Lord is upon the waters :
92 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
the God of glory thundereth ; the Lord is upon many
waters." He means — The Lord is in all and every-
where. The present creation, and man as he is now,
are rudimentary. A good time is coming, a noble era
for heaven and earth. Forward is our path. We press
on : success is sure. That which is physical only is
as chaff to the wheat and as wheat is to the life that
partakes of the Divine.
We advance, moment by moment, and are like the
sun. Every man should say —
*' . . . Herein will I imitate the 'sun ;
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at."
King Henry /F., Part I., act i. sc. 2.
Our mind infuses the body with new powers, vivid-
ness and spring ; while the mind, by contact with the
body, is disciplined to more accuracy, self-assertion,
and power to control substance. The mutual action
will grow until our bodies change from the corruptible
into the incorruptible — vital without waste ; and our
minds acting by direct consciousness, rather than
thought, every mental delight, every spiritual joy,
every perception of nature and of God, will be
enlarged to the utmost. The moods of our spirit,
which sometimes now lift us to the sublime, will then
be in constant play ; while through the new body
ever supplying unceasing bliss, we shall be lastingly
in enjoyment of those greater things for which we are
being prepared. It is by the vivid play of our
faculties that we identify strange phenomena with
PROSPECTIVE ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS, 93
familiar facts and familiar facts with strange phe-
nomena. There's neither honesty, nor manhood, nor
high fellowship, in the man who will not endeavour
so to redeem time that all time may be his.
Our growth in use of the body that now is, throw-
ing open all doors in the palace of the universe,
warrants our inference that in the future we shall
have more faculty to understand, more power to do,
more taste to enjoy, and more spirit to admire. A
total difference of things in the future is incredible.
Why be disciplined in the use of our body and cir-
cumstances, if body and circumstances are to be
wholly changed } Death will be swallowed up in
life, sin and pain will be taken away, we shall bear
the image of the Heavenly ; but that Heavenly is,
Himself, in our own image glorified, and we know
what that is, we have seen it The meaning is : that
the fleshly substance which, while making the mind
distinctive in operation, somewhat narrows and
hinders, will be made a spiritual substance ; a sub-
stance plenary of power as the mind will be. This
larger faculty of knowing and doing will be co-
ordinate, so we are taught, with nobler materials
amidst grander circumstances. We shall discern the
inner springs and wheel-work of nature, be able to
conduct the transactions of worlds, and be engaged
as fellow-workers with the Almighty in leading on
all things to grandest results, and to greatest happi-
ness. If any man's soul is not capable of this mental
reasoning and picturability, his general faculties will
be in inverse ratio to successful progress of any true
94 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
value. Phenomena will not lose their grand meaning
because he is dwarfed.
For this nobler work and destiny we are being
cultured. Few men can easily read an intellectual
book, and at the same time carry on a train of difficult
thought. By careful exercise we enable ourselves to
this. Speakers arrange, almost unconsciously, the
words they are saying; and at the same time pre-
arrange their argument. This double process which,
more or less, as sight and foresight, vision and previ-
sion, extend to most of our present affairs, is in itself
indicative, and a means of future growth. A strange
fact gives point to this. A number of different sub-
stances, concurring in definite proportions of weight
or volume, interact ; disappear, and give rise to a
new body possessing properties that are neither the
sum, nor the mean of the sum, of those that concurred
and interacted.
The whole series of facts and thoughts warrant
our persuasion that the mental and emotional faculties
are capable of almost immeasurable expansion ; and
even that which has deteriorated, if not yet destroyed
may be restored. Memory, seeming blank as to
many events, may be reconstructed by means of
relative ideas. Blank leaves of the past life, being
thus reprinted, the lost is found and the dead made
to live. Frequently, in a few moments, the whole of
a past life is presented to the inner gaze of a dying
man. These reconstructions and enlargements are
prophetic of a future growth to complete our present
progress. Our body, our soul, our spirit, holding out
PROSPECTIVE ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS. 95
hands to the future, are to be filled. Successive
mental states even now produce the future with
additions added by the present. The states to come
will reproduce the past also with additions. The
body changes now, yet we are the same persons, our
identity is not disputed, that we were years ago ; and
as out of the nettle danger we pluck the flower safety
that we may live the present life ; so out of that
greatest danger, sin, we pluck righteousness, turn the
uncertain into certain, the unsorted into well sorted,
and all opposition into victory; through the merits
and help of Him who, nineteen hundred years ago,
for our advantage, was nailed to the bitter cross. It
is time to give up every asylum ignorantiae. Our
future will prove itself the determinate of multiplicity
as to agencies, and the outcome of a concurrence of
numerous conditions. Kepler said that an angelus
rector conducts every planet along its path ; more
than an angelus rector, God, by Nature and by His
Word, leads us to Himself "A kind of honour
sets us off, more than a mortal seeming." We recog-
nize a grandeur in the beatings of the heart, we
possess times of rapture, and
** Oh ! there is never sorrow of heart
That shall lack a timely end,
If but to God we turn and ask
Of Him to be our Friend ! "
William Wordsworth, The Force of Prayer,
XIII.
l^atural i^fstorj) of our Immortalftg : ^f)e jfuTfter
([Bnlargement of our ^ototrs.
**It is not enough to utter the mysteries of the Spirit, the great
mysteries of Christianity, in formulas, true before God, but not under-
stood of the people. The apostle and the prophet are precisely those
who have the gift of interpreting these obscure and profound formulas
for each man and each age. To translate into the common tongue . . .
to speak the Word of God afresh in each age, in accordance with the
novelty of the age and the eternal antiquity of the truth, this is what
St. Paul means by interpreting the unknown tongue.*' — Gratry, Henri
Perreyve: Paris ^ 1880, p. 162. Quoted in Preface of *^ Lux Mundi.^*
CERTAINLY the above is not what St. Paul
meant as to speaking with unknown tongues.
He could not wish us to think that the interpretation
of a miracle shows that there was no miracle to
explain. The pride of human reason invents divers
subtleties to rid itself of that which sets reason at
nought ; and foolishly thinks that the magnitude of
the offence will, by success, be its own apology. In
opposition to such presumption, it is better that the
peace of the innocent be with us. It is well for a
man if he use even the error as an introduction of
warning not to regard God's Word as of private
( 96 )
FURTHER ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS. 97
interpretation, not to insert his own opinion as the
truth conveyed by the Holy Ghost.
He who speaks in an unknown tongue without
power to interpret, is carried beyond his intelligent
apprehension into the supernatural. He, not able to
speak, but able to interpret, is not carried beyond
himself into a higher state, but the higher state is
brought within : he discerns and interprets. This
outer and inner revelation of the unseen life and
powers, reminds us of the two great preparations for
immortality. One, general, a convergence of all
natural lines and historical courses so that everything
is seen flowing on to the future as rivers run into the
sea. The other, special, personal, distinctive, in the
genius for religion and in a sense of the world to
come. They stand apart, each goes its own way, but
by a strange parallelism of natural law and human
need, both carry all the resources of the past and of
the present into the future. Look out for a people
destitute of any sense as to the miraculous, without
any aspiration for immortality. If you find any one,
be assured it is removed but a few degrees from the
brutes. The greatest and best of our race are those
most impressed with the sense of wonder and with
the desire for higher life. Like Gregory the Great,
they say, "God dwelleth in all things and without
all things, above all things and beneath all things."
The endeavour to be rid of the miraculous is one
of the foolishest and most impracticable endeavours
of unbelieving men. A miracle is an event in strict
relation to the order of nature, to bring about a
H
98 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
change in the order, that God's will, or purpose, may
be manifested. The heights of science, of pliilo-
sophy, and all religion, are inseparable from miracle.
Nobody knows, despite presumptuous talk, how
Creation began and went on, and miracles are acts
of the same order as those used in the causation of
nature. Nature, though we talk of nebulous clouds,
their rounding and consolidation into suns and planets,
of inorganic substance becoming organic and assuming
life, is of infinite depth, infinite expansion, infinite
height. On every side, above and below, it passeth
all understanding. As for the time of it, the im-
measurable past and the ever-continuing future are
the measure ; as to the wealth of it, the world, or life,
or death, or things present, or things to come, all
belong to it. The natural proof is our sense of that
continuous shaping of things towards a Divine Event
which has always been a support of faith. Our
spiritual liberty, into use of which we consciously
grow, asserts the spiritual value and meaning of this
natural law.
Is the past wholly past, and the future only future ?
Why, memory, feeble as it is, brings back the past ;
the present is greatly, if not altogether, the fruit of
it ; and as to the future, it comes on with such speed
that we enter new epochs in time and new realms in
space every moment. The curtain of darkness does
not so cover the past, or so conceal the future, but
that both are seen of God as a universal here and an
everlasting now. We too, being not a mere shadow
of God, but passing on to be full of the light of God,
FURTHER ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS, 99
do not any one of us realize our own death, and shall
soon know the past, possess the future, and so grasp
the infinite, that everlastingness will be our possessed
inheritance. The student of mankind finds of greatest
significance that instinct of immortality which grows
with our growth, and runs as a line of gold through
the web and course of human history.
This fact seems proclaimed by that continual en-
largement of our powers which is fitting us for the
promised possession of all things ; not only by title
(i Cor. iii. 21), but in actual enjoyment (Rev. xxi. 7).
This enlargement is confirmed by accurate knowledge
of Nature. "Nature is the Time- Vesture of God
which reveals Him to the wise, and hides Him from
the fool." It is also assured by the fact that at every
turning point of history stands a man who claims to
bring a word from God of happiness in store afar,
a sphere of distant glory coming into view.
Innumerable analogies in plant and animal life,
and in the various world-processes by which the past
is repeated and coming events are made our own,
give evidence of that universal natural transition
which runs as a supernatural narrative through all
things. The sun of to-day comes from before yester-
day and goes beyond the morrow. Animals, and
whatsoever is of floral life, are all beautifully in
relation to the precedent and present circumstances
of their life ; and ensure their future by being fitted
for, and following the leadings on of nature. Un-
accountable, even monstrous, were it if those higher
faculties of man, which make him think of and
100 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
prepare for another life, come to nothing ; while the
little insect, preparing for metamorphosis, lies down
to sleep and awakes to gaiety in a higher existence.
The insect, in that higher existence, grows not, makes
no advance, he is in the last day of it as he was in
the first. Not so is it with us. Man is the highest
attainment, the crown of all organic life, and more
specially in the character of growth. Man the sum
of instincts, of noblest impressions, of greatest hopes,
of vastest intelligence, regards them in their moni-
tions and indications as physical and spiritual demon-
stration of a future newness in the new heavens and
the new earth.
Man's passage to another stage of existence is
certainly a natural process and prophecy confirmed
by Divine Revelation. It explains why we are never
satisfied with the present, a greater satisfaction
awaits us. It shows why our knowledge and power
greatly advance, while the knowledge and power of
lower animals make no advance. Every true man,
every good man, is conscious of a guidance that ever
leads him forward. In a poetic form, we speak of the
guidance as a sphere melody, flowing and sounding
with a thousand accompaniments and symphonies,
enriching our heart and divinely enlightening our
mind.
This is not more wonderful, nor harder to believe,
than that by the power and providence of God we
now exist. The entering a new world was accom-
plished when we began to live. That fact is not less
a marvel than our passing by another stage into life
FURTHER ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS, loi
of a further grade. They are both natural, and show
that when our hopes or fears, our science and
Scripture, look on and on, they act according to the
established and natural prearranged scheme of the
universe. To cast a slight on such verities is to give
Nature the lie, and impugn both conscience and
reason. We should, in refusing credence to im-
mortality, have to say, " The noblest, most intellectual
and powerful existing species, marked with the most
distinct indications of a transformation by which they
will pass into further existence, has actually no
awaiting transformation.''
Our reply to such unreasonable assertion is —
According to a man's intellectual and moral power,
ideas, in proportion to their perfection, will be definite,
clean cut, and clear. It is the correct thinker, the
accurate investigator, who finds out the laws of
nature ; the philosopher learns the laws of thought ;
the artist discerns ideal beauty. They find perfections
beyond perfections, and an extension stretching out
infinitely. To such men the reasonable conviction
of immortality is the true clean-cut proof of God's
glorious gift. The darkness that will not com-
prehend the light must flee away. He who able
to conceive the best chooses the worst is the most
deadly spiritual ruin. Whewell (" Plurality of
Worlds," p. 379) states — " The mind of man is a
partaker of the thoughts of the Divine mind. The
intellect of man is a spark of the light by which the
world was created."
As to an instantaneous change from good or evil,
I02 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
irrespective of penitence and faith, of the discipline
of life and economy of forces, that is not to be
credited. The internal and external character with
which we stamp ourselves, or which the grace of God,
working in us, confers and confirms, will accompany
us. What we sow that shall we reap. What Nature
plants, what God blesses, will prosper.
This internal and external character makes accurate
and enlarges our theological thinking by further sight
and clearer insight of all the ways in which God
fulfils Himself It shows that Christianity is greater
than all interpretations, that the priest does not create
religion, but religion the priest. It answers every
objection, is adequate to all wants, and responds to
the perplexities of every age. It exhibits the worlds
as a means to an end, and that end the reconstruction
of the whole universe for God, the gathering of all
things into an order of perfect freedom. On this
account our internal character, adjusted to the
external, finds the natural world so fascinating ;
and imagination fills the heart with nature's com-
plexity and beauty. External nature enters our
spiritual nature, and making itself at home satisfies
all the hopes it pictures. Both worlds, in their
mysteries of matter and mind, reveal God in all things
and all things in God. The Incarnation of Christ is
the personal exhibition of it. Christ is in the natural
world as man. He made Himself as we are, that we
may be made as He is. Christ, in the Supernatural,
is God ; and carries into it His form of man as our
formal representative. This, seen aright, is the key-
FURTHER ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS. 103
stone of creation, the climax of religion, the sign and
seal of immortality. Seeing aright, we find that
the world is bodily and visibly a Gospel, man is a
theophany, and our enlarging powers revel in the
fact that the universe is God's suit of apparel ; and
that God, thus in nature, is most blessedly and
blessing in man. In every material thing God lies
hid. Of every intelligent creature God is the Light.
In that Light we see the coming bliss.
If our present nature, mode of existence, acts of
conscience, thoughts, hopes, fears, and prudential
preparations as to coming ages, were laid before
a competent philosopher, he would discern in the
material and mental organization innumerable proofs
that our life is in an initial stage ; that germs of
the future are not less real parts of our constitution
than the faculties of a man are potential in the child.
A naturalist would say more : that Nature is quite of
infinite depth, and of infinite expansion ; that Nature's
courses go beyond our own earth, beyond our
planetary system ; and that its words, sentences,
descriptive pages, spread out through all space, all
time; and that heavenly hieroglyphs, and many
intelligible and not yet intelligible languages, symbols
of the Godlike in man, declare that man's life is an
everlasting Evangel.
A further reason. Our bodily and animal functions
are neither commensurate with the mental faculty nor
with our volitional power. The disparity is seen by
the body's incapability of performing all the mind's
requirement. We will ; but, very often, how to per-
I04 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
form we find not. This want of balance, in connection
with a predominating sentiment and conviction that
somehow, sometime, somewhere, the balance will be
adjusted, is a moral and physical prophecy and
onlook towards its complete destiny. What is our
earth ? what is our whole planetary system ? but the
narrow and near province of a wide empire. We go
beyond it in thought, in aspiration, in knowledge, and
shall not cease to go beyond it. These faculties are
our guides to a higher level of existence. It would
be strange indeed should we err in thus following
nature, seeing that all other creatures by following
are made perfect. They follow Nature ; we also,
and follow God ! for what are these faculties in us
but God-given symbols !
The hope, excited and sustained by our reasonable
and moral faculties of a future renovation and
completion of our existence, is in itself a pledge of
success. So great is the influence of hope, that it
characterizes the best efforts of our mind, inspires the
heart with purest motives, and the evident elevation
effected by it in this life is a proof of truth and
power, " that from the lowest depth is a path to the
loftiest height." We are not under the misguidance
of a lie when we not only rejoice in hope, but actually
obtain various and tangible good, which good is again
a witness that we are on the right way. That in con-
tinuance along this way we shall obtain perfection is
assured by the growing sense of present inadequate-
ness to accomplish all of which we are capable, a
consciousness of restriction, of knowledge thwarted,
FURTHER ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS. 105
of capacities unused, of spiritual and mental aspirations
failing, of baffled paroxysms, which nevertheless do
rise beyond earth and time. Though thus repressed,
we are nevertheless our own masters. We will hope,
we will strive, and we will struggle towards the future
more earnestly and consciously than plants tend to
the light, than animals to appease their appetite and
wants.
Our sovereign faculties are not knaves in deceiving
us, not fools in being themselves deceived, that is
incredible. Every rise in the grades of existence is
accompanied with power to attain higher things and
more : confirming the reality of that advance and the
truth of that power. For a man to assert that in us
alone advance is not advance ; that the mental,
moral, spiritual desire for better things, for greater
life and more abundant, is utterly false and wasted ;
shocks all that we know, and makes that which is
most alive in us and true, more pertinaciously, more
determinedly, more mightily, lay hold on eternal life.
This Light of Life, shining into a tempest-tossed
soul, makes our earth to be already a fertile, blooming,
Heaven-encircled World.
If we have reasoned aright the saying is set at
nought, " A finite creature cannot exceed its finitude,
nor use it to obtain knowledge either of the beginning
or the end." Even the materialist admits that
infinitesimal vibrations have effect infinitely, and that
the life of an insect is a product of the whole past
and influences all the future. As for men, science
carries us into the laboratory of creation, and we
ic6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
are sure that the system of things, whether viewed
mechanically or organically, is subject to constant
interference by power internal and external, because
of the relativity of all material forms. Every finite
whole is always a part of some greater whole ; and
time is ever receding on the background to eternity,
and advancing not less co-extensively. With the
enlargement of our faculties, we understand at least
some of the secrets as to the initial of worlds, their
successive combinations, developments, and dawning
possibilities. The past and the future are comple-
mentary, persistent in exuberant versatility, moulding,
beautifying, and peopling worlds. We see whence
all things are and whither all things tend ; they testify
of eternal Power and Godhead. The realities of
design, the onward completion of purpose, the
naturalness of selection, and the spiritualness of
adaptation, are observed. With God, we and nature
are sufficient unto ourselves, without Him both are
insufficient. The universalness of correspondence of
part with the whole, and of the whole with part, gives
to the rainbow and the flower, the light and the sun,
the loveliness of the earth and sea, our quickened
and enlarged energies of body and soul, those touches
by which things common rise and greet the furthest
part of boundless spheres. Wonderful is the fact of
our immortality. It gives to every moment the
miniature of an infinite sphere as a writing within,
and enlarges our life to a boundless comprehension.
We stand in direct and personal relation to the God
who made, who redeemed, who sustains us. We are
FURTHER ENLARGEMENT OF OUR POWERS. 107
His children, He is our Father. Loving, reasonable
service is our offering to Him, everlasting life His
Divine Gift to us.
" My Father's House on high.
Home of my soul, how near,
At times, to Faith's foreseeing eye
Thy golden gates appear !
Ah, then my spirit faints
To reach the land I love.
The bright inheritance of Saints,
Jerusalem above."
Cowper,
XIV.
Ffsions anb Breams ag GGlimpses of Immortalitg.— I.
" Half our days we pass in the shadow of the earth, and the brother
of death extracteth a third part of our lives." — Sir Thomas Browne.
" 'Tis true, 'tis certain ; man, though dead, retains
Part of himself ; the immortal mind remains ;
The form subsists without the body's aid."
Iliad : Dream of Achilles.
SOME men largely possess the faculty of painting
imaginary events not only as mental scenes, but
in the garb of living reality. They make the never-
ending stories of ancient history to present themselves
in mournful pomp, or in pleasant guise ; and they
light up a theatre in their brain, adorned with
splendour, moving with strange events, and alive with
representation of many persons. The mind of a poor
man delights in the riches of a kingdom ; the deaf
man hears music finer than Handel's ; the eyes of the
blind see double ; and the legs of the lame leap as a
hart, hop, skip, and jump through the sky. This
faculty is turned to great advantage by our writers of
fiction, our poets, our painters, and not a few musicians
have written what they call " spirit music," given, as
they thought, by angels or demons.
( loS )
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. 109
This excitement of the imagination is not of much
use to ordinary individuals, and is even an injury if it
lead to mere mooning. That person whose best and
adjusted thoughts are of little value, is not likely,
whether by day-fancies or night-dreams, to be a
revealer of secrets. There are, nevertheless, valuable
peculiarities of brain-thought and physical aptness in
every individual ; could he find them, and would he
use them —
" E*en silent night proclaims my soul immortal,
E'en silent night proclaims eternal day,
For human weal, heaven husbands all events,
Dull sleep instructs, nor sport vain dreams in vain.'*
Edward Youngs LL.D., Night Thoughts.
In various senses every man is the only man of his
sort in the world. In the midst of other men, there
is much in which we are alone, and live apart, and
move in our own sort of existence, as the separate stars
twinkle in the skies. This being the case, we experi-
ence, and our experience if cultivated would become
a great reality, a sort of direction towards that great
and good God from whom cometh every blessing.
This divine direction, acting in all men who have not
thrust God from their thoughts, shows itself soon in a
seeing of wonders within common things. Protagoras
said, " Man is the measure of the universe," not that
any man knows the universe ; but he sees that the
least and apparently most limited things stretch out
infinitely on every side. There are influences which,
so far as we discern, are not subject to any precise
rules of restraint. Sudden lights, and horrors of
darkness, come to us in our full health, and as we
no THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
walk in the broad trodden ways of duty filled with
the laughing sunshine of the universe. Richard
Baxter (" Reasons of the Christian Religion ") says,
** Suppose there be angels, and suppose one of them
should be united to a body, as our souls are, we
cannot imagine but that he would actuate it, and
operate in it according to its nature ; as I write amiss
when my pen is bad." Separating all this from
superstitions and miserable mysticism, bear in mind
that the higher intellect, the true genius, the distin-
guishing distinction, is the power of seeing wonders
in common things.
Throughout the Gentile world, there has been a
systematic, natural, and artificial mode of interpreting
these thoughts and dreams of men ; and Zeno held
that the study of our dreams is essential to self-know-
ledge. Sometimes coincidences in forethoughts and
dreams with succeeding events have been marvellous ;
and the value was chiefly in being symbolically
prophetic. Whether we think of interpretations by
the oracles, or by individual divination, there have
been certain occasions when That in the universe
which acts as our soul acts in the body, moves our
reason to discern the unseen. Aristotle, amongst
the ancients, thought that outward things affected
the soul, and, afterwards, reappeared in dreams.
It is easy to say, " There is nothing real in this ; it
is a profane step on the precincts of God's spiritual
kingdom, and a systematic business of folly and
imposture." Such slip-shod statements, though we
accept them as a sort of rule of thumb for reject-
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. in
ing what we see is valueless, are not of any value as
to interpreting, or refusing, or accepting, that which
is evidently a marvel. Bishop Butler (" Analogy of
Religion ") says dreams confirm the fact that we are
possessed of a latent, and what would be, but for
dreams, an unimagined unknown power of perceiving
things in as strong and lively a manner without our
external organs as with them.
Dreams ordinarily, like the common thoughts of
feeble men, are valueless. The prophet Isaiah (xxix.
8) has shown this — " As when an hungry man
dreameth, and, behold, he eateth ; but he awaketh,
and his soul is empty : or as when a thirsty man
dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh ; but he awaketh,
and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite."
They are simply " the mental activity of a sleeping
person which leave traces in the waking conscious-
ness." A bottle of hot water at the feet has made a
dreamer believe that he is walking arm in arm with
Satan. In certain states of the body the brain
becomes a kind of polytechnic of airy nothings ; but
we have logic and common sense on our side if, with
Addison and Bishop Butler, we hold that they
strengthen our arguments for the immortality of our
soul. We adopt the opinion of Dryden that generally —
"Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes :
When monarch reason sleeps, this mimic wakes ;
Compounds a medley of disjointed things,
A court of cobblers and a mob of kings.
Light fumes are merry, grosser fumes are sad, —
Both are the reasonable soul run mad ;
And many monstrous forms in sleep we see,
That neither were, nor are, nor e'er can be."
112 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
After all, however, there is a mystery ; you cannot
dream as you like, nor when you like ; nor can you
by any special sort of food, or drug, awake particular
visions. Sir Thomas Browne and some others have
found that the sleeping self transcended the waking
self Mathematicians, like Condorcet, asleep have
solved problems which set at nought their powers
awake. Condillac, engaged in his " Cours d'Etude,"
frequently developed and finished a subject in his
dreams that he had broken off on retiring to rest.
Painters, seeing visions, have painted goddesses ;
poets, have indited inimitable poems ; and musicians,
have thought they brought melodies from paradise.
Coleridge's " Kubla Khan '* was composed during
sleep. Tartini's " Sonata du Diable " is an imitation
of what he dreamed the devil played.
The question is. Can we make any good reliable use
of dreams ? Certainly, not one in a thousand is
capable of intelligible application, and as a rule
superstitious people believe in dreams, but the intel-
ligent do not ; and it is not the wisest who dream
most, but the least wise. The coincidences, between
a dream and the event, are even fewer and less
remarkable than the calculation of chances warrants
us in expecting. Individuals, if acquainted with
futurity, would be made useless and miserable ;
curiosity and enterprise would be at end. Though
this be true, everything in nature has a use, and we
will try to find that use.
We are sometimes more in our dreams than in our
waking moments. Sir Thomas Browne (" Religio
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. 113
Medici "), not a facetious man, nor given to humour,
would during a dream compose a whole comedy, and
laugh himself awake at his own jests. He said that
were his memory as faithful as his fancy was fruitful
he would never study except in his dreams. Most
persons are conscious in their dreams of thinking,
saying, doing, the marvellous. We often possess an
instinctive prescience, like that instinct in animals by
which they avoid storms, dangers, and prepare antici-
patorily for the changes and new organs necessary for
their successive stages of existence. Dr. Gregory
records that thoughts and particular words occurring
to him in dreams were so good that he used them in
his college lectures. Men, slow of speech, will be
eloquent and sprightly in dreams; and converse
readily even in languages they are little acquainted
with. The hardest mental work is invention, yet
sometimes in our sleep it is done with ease and
activity. A beggar may be truly a king in his
dreams, and a king find himself a beggar. We may
use senses not possessed when awake. Smellie
mentions Dr. Blacklock who, having lost his sight
when a few months old, had a distinct impression in
dreams of possessing a sense which he had not when
awake. It was as if he knew things and persons by
means of invisible lines passing from them to him.
This indicates a mode of obtaining knowledge, by a
sort of revelation beyond that of our usual senses. It
tells of an involuntary action by which we realize
objects apart from the usual physical contact. From
the whole we learn, as stated in Dr. W. Smith's
I
114 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
"Dictionary of the Bible," that the Dream is a
medium by which God communicates with us provi-
dentially directly or indirectly as He pleases. Hence
the use we make of dreams is manifold. We enlarge
our thoughts, receive suggestions as to the growth of
our faculties, obtain a consciousness of new modes
of communication as were every faculty a germ of
something larger and better, a something by which
we have anticipations, gleams of a future state,
through being in our dreams closely allied with the
realities of a spiritual world. In the fellowship of
dreams — *
"... The unslumbering soul
Wears immortality upon its crest,
And by its very power to soar with them,
Proves that it cannot die."
Mrs. Sigourney^ Pocahontas y and other Poems : Dreams.
It is our duty, and a means of further usefulness
and larger happiness, to carry thought and imagina-
tion by successive reaches to the depths and to the
heights of our mental capacity. If we do this to-day
more than yesterday, and transcend to-day by
to-morrow, we shall obtain larger moral and mental
power. We shall rise to the condition indicated by
St. Paul (i Thess. v. lo) that, whether awake or
asleep, we live our whole life for Christ and with
Christ. Our thoughts thus turn to gold, the future is
not in faint and visionary colours, our very fancies
will be more real than unspiritual men's hardest
reasoning, and our faculties so develop in the whole
and every part that things waiting to be revealed
shall come, even at night, as do the stars. O, it is
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. 115
good, both day and night, to have those thoughts
and dreams which, laying hold on eternal life, see
our future dwelling as more true and real than all
that is with us now.
When appearances are disclosed as [of a mighty
city, and every house of it in a paradise. A city
rising high, and going far in wondrous depth. Not
of diamond, nor gold, but outshining them, and more
precious far. Not self-withdrawn, nor sinking away
from touch and view, but domes and spires and
terraces and pavilions with illumination beyond all
gems. Here and there the towers with battlements
begirt, not amid circumstance of war, nor marked
with spot of natural decay ; but bright, and ever
brightening more, the reflection of a universe at
peace. All darkening veils of vapour drawn aside,
then is seen, deeper than all deeps, higher than all
summits, a lustrousness calm and serene ; but O, so
blissful ! that everywhere everlasting joy springs
up ; for the face of all the fair sky is like the
countenance of God : not as on the Cross, but as
the Ever-living, the Ever-ruling, the Ever-blessing, the
Almighty God and Saviour, in whom we live and
move and have our being. O ! so to think, so to
dream, is that life indeed than which nothing can be
greater, except the waking and the finding that all is
glorious ! all is true !
XV.
Fisions anil 1® reams as CRlimpses of ImmortalitB.— IL
" As the sun,
Ere it has risen, sometimes paints its image
In the atmosphere, so often do the spirits
Of great events stride on before the events,
And in to-day already walks to-morrow. "
Schiller, Death of Wallenstein,
* * Dreams are in general reflex images
Of things that men in waking hours have known ;
But sometimes dreams of holier character
Rise in the tranced soul inspired by Jove,
Prophetic of the future."
Cicero on Divination : Dream of Tarquin, Interpreted,
DREAMS are sometimes caused by external
irritants such as noxious smells, heat, cold,
noise, and by the influence of a strange bed ; more
frequently the state of the bodily system, difficulty of
breathing, of circulation, of digestion, worry of the
brain, anxiety, and great mental excitement are the
cause of phantasies. They are more than a partial
arousing of animal life, as to certain organs and
senses while others are asleep, for very often the
imagination and sometimes the reason, are in vivid life
and exercise. After we have pondered some difficult
( ii6 )
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. 117
subject, the automatic and even unconscious reflex
action of the intellectual organs does sometimes,
during sleep, evolve clear ideas and valuable develop-
ments. Ligation of the outward senses sets free
the reason, and the fancies of our dreams more than
match our wakeful thoughts.
It is unwise, generally, to take any notice of dreams,
except as they indicate that the body and mind are
in need of the physician. In that respect they are
prophecies of nature as to avoiding what is evil, and
as to the necessity of remedial processes. There is
in all organic matter a sort of prescience, specially
active in the instinct which shuns poison, chooses
food, and acts in formation of the organs necessary
to successive phases of existence. The fact that all
nature more or less anticipates a future, and that a
further state is always indicated, may be taken as a
universal law.
Battista Fregoso ("De Dictis et Factis Memora-
bilibus ") records that a sceptic, named Gennadius, a
physician of Carthage, dreamed of a beautiful city.
The following night he again dreamed, and the youth,
who had been his guide in the city of the former
dream, appeared again. This conversation took place :
'* Do you remember me, Gennadius } " *' Yes."
" Where," said the young man, " were you lying } "
" In my bed sleeping." The young man replied, " If
your mind's eye surveyed a city, while your body
slept, may not your pure and active spirit still live,
and observe, and remember, even though your body
be shapeless and decayed in the sepulchre } '* Genna-
ii8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
dius, convinced, abandoned his unbelief, and was ever
after firm in the Christian faith. Such an appeal is
irresistible.
It is impossible to prove that there is no future
state ; and there is so much in sleep like death, particu-
larly in certain kinds of sleep, and so much in dreams,
particularly in certain dreams, like a prescience of life
apart from the body ; that our hopes of immortality,
our instinctive cleaving to life, and involuntary pro-
jection of ourselves into the future, bring a splendour
of conviction, as to life, that dissipates all our fear,
even as darkness gives place to dawn of day. The
prescience may be called instinctive. It operates
largely in instinctive life. It is a faculty so powerful
as to rule irrational creatures, and appears in men
when they are reduced by sleep to an irrational
condition. Is it a great wonder that we, having
organs necessary for successive phases of existence,
regard prudent foresight, as to another world, with
the same confidence that we see lower animals prepare
for their migrations, and for their transit to a further
stage of being } Certainly not. Even in the way of
instinctive prescience, it seems certain that some
dreams have proved to be prophetic.
The soul feels and thinks and acts apart from the
body, even while united to it. Why should it not be
able to think in a more enlarged and exalted manner
when apart from the body, or when joined to a
spiritual body ? To see without the eye, to hear
without the ear, to feel without touching the objects
of sensation, and to use every kind of perception
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. 119
independent of the organs of sense, would have been
deemed impossible had we not dreamed ; and it
ought to be asserted as proof that future sentient
life, apart from the body, is a reasonable belief.
There is, as Lord Brougham says ("A Discourse of
Natural Theology "), " nothing better adapted to
satisfy us that the nature of the mind is consistent
with its existence apart from the body."
Is every man who has startling dreams to count
himself a saint and a prophet } Because God has
been pleased to reveal Himself to special men, set
apart for extraordinary purposes, are we to imagine
that He will reveal to us the trifling occurrences of
our life a few days before they happen ? Certainly
not : indeed to make us acquainted with futurity
would, for the most part, render us useless and
miserable. Though not claiming to be special men,
set apart for marvellous purposes, we are undoubt-^
ingly warranted in laying our hand on the fact —
* * Our life is twofold . . .
And dreams in their development have breath,
They do divide our being ; they become
A portion of ourselves as of our time,
And look like heralds of eternity ;
They look like spirits of the past, — they speak
Like sibyls of the future ; they have power."
Lord Byron ^ The Dream ^ i.
We go further. It is so common to speak, even as
Faraday great in science did, that the truth of man's
future life cannot be ascertained "by any exertion
of his mental powers, however exalted they may be ;
that it is made known to him by other teaching than
120 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
his own, and is received through simple belief of the
testimony given ; " that we are bound to say, " Accept-
ing Holy Writ, as the great authority, and as throwing
most light on the future, we do by that light see the
world to be full of reasons for faith in immortality :
"*Astamp
To rest the weary, and to soothe the sad,
Doth lesson happier men, and shames at least the bad.*'
Childe Harold y canto ii., Ixviii.
The testimony of Scripture is confirmed by science,
by philosophy, by our intuitions, by our daily ex-
perience rightly understood, and even by our dreams."
Xenophon says (" Cyropaedia "), " In sleep the soul of
man appears most divine. It then foresees something
of the future. Then it seems most at liberty."
One dream, of a right character, duly certified,
would be sufficient proof. We have thousands. To
say the dreamers were both dupes and fools is wilful
folly. It is certain that we dream. There is no
explanation of that, sufficient to cover the whole
subject. While the avenues of the body are closed
the soul is still endued with sense and perception, and
the impressions are often stronger and the images
more lively when we are asleep than when awake.
" They must necessarily be two distinct and different
substances . . . While one shall be dead to the world,
the other shall be ranging in thought through the
universe." So says Bishop Newton in his " Disserta-
tions."
Dreams are not always resuscitation of thoughts
which previously occupied the mind ; nor, if they
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. 121
were, would that account for some thoughts being
thus raised from the dead, and for others never being
called up. To talk of all being mere imagination, of
hopes, of fears, of physical and mental derangement,
is one of those entrenchments behind which our per-
plexity shelters itself. Besides, " no one ever
imagined, or can imagine, anything that has not
reality somewhere, and this whether waking or
sleeping." That fact, our inability to create, gives
to our thoughts and our dreams an indisputable
power of proof as to immortality. "The proofs
which dreams exhibit of the agency of the perceptive
powers, not only without the aid of the organs of
perception, but in direct opposition to the impressions
which these organs convey to the brain, are sufficient
to establish the abstract independence of mind." ^
The mind is struck with wonder at the power of
mind in and over matter. It alters and enlarges our
common ideas of it, and develops new conceptions
of its properties. The infinitely minute changes
which thoughts pass through, the marvellous acts of
memory, are beyond our comprehension, are more
inexplicable than the arrangements and movements
of vast masses in infinite space, we have spiritual
cycle and epicycle, and such looks on the past, such
outlooks on the future, that we stand amazed at the
presence of an awful power in us which makes every
moment of our life the meeting-place of two eternities ;
and we are not more sure that we are related to
the past, than sure that our lengthened after life is
^ Frederick C. Bakewell, "Natural Evidence of a Future Life."
122 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
not a dream. "Nothing can be conceived better
calculated than these facts to demonstrate the extreme
agility of the mental powers, their total diversity
from any material substances or actions ; nothing
better adapted to satisfy us that the nature of the
mind is consistent with its existence apart from the
body/^ 1
There are trivial dreams to match our trivial daily
thoughts such as Zophar spoke of about the wicked —
" He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be
found : yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of
the night" (Job xx. 8). In Ecclesiastes (v. 7) we
read, " In the multitude of dreams and many words
there are also divers vanities." A French proverb
states the sarrie : " Songes sont mensonges." It does
not follow that to dream trivially is to live trivially ;
but if dream action is morally diseased, and that
continually, waking action will not be morally sound.
In such cases the dream is an index of the character.
It warns us to cure, to eradicate the evil, that we
may be pure and blameless, symmetrical in com-
binations of thought and act, which fit us for the
coming future ; so shall progress be made in the
school of virtue even while we dream. David
(Ps. xvi. 7) thought of this : " My reins also instruct
me in the night seasons." From the desires of his
heart in night's seasons, he learned much of himself
and so comfortably that he blessed God for it. In
the Acts of the Apostles (ii. 17) we are told that in
time yet to come the dreaming of dreams will be a
* Lord Brougham, " A Discourse of Natural Theology."
VISIONS AND DREAMS AS GLIMPSES. 123
mark of Divine favour. Thus dreams, when sent
from God, tend to moral improvement
It is an interesting fact that the soul of a dreaming
man thinks, and yet the next moment the same
waking man shall not recollect his thoughts. Mostly
that is no loss. The mind is then as a looking-glass,
which receives the image of our countenance, but
when we are awake, retaineth it not It is well to
be content without dreams, as Luther said somewhat
in this manner, We have Holy Scripture which
teaches us so abundantly and evidently that we
therein acquiesce. We will hide God's words in our
hearts, and store up His precepts in our remembering
minds. These will sanctify our souls, save our lives,
and make immortality a very blessed fact Bishop
Bull,^ speaking of dreams, says, " Now it is no enthu-
siasm, but the best account that can be given of
them, to ascribe these things to the ministry of those
invisible instruments of God's providence, that guide
and govern our affairs and concerns, viz. the angels
of God." If we are Christians, indeed it is well with
us whether we dream, or are not dreamers.
* Sermon on Office of the Holy Angels towards the Faithful.
XVI.
®l)t ^mtb l^fetorg of Breams.— I.
" All Divine communications of this kind carry'their own authentica-
tion, and are self-discriminating from all other." — Anon.
" Dreams caused by evil angels induce to evil actions, which those
originated by good angels never do." — Anon.
" Lord, lest the Tempter me surprise,
Watch over Thine own sacrifice ;
All loose, all idle thoughts cast out,
And make my very dreams devout."
Bishop Ken, Midnight Hymn.
AMONGST the necessities of man's nature is that
of fellowship. He requires a social life, kindly
and complete as to kindred ; besides this sympathy
and satisfaction, he gravitates by a spiritual influence
leading him to commune with the power and wisdom
and mystery of the universe.
He will not make nor accept a God of measure-
ments and calculations. He would rather worship
the trees and the rivers. He will not own himself to
be the haphazard child of circumstances. He prefers
that his paternal and filial feelings lead him, as a son
of God, to worship his Father — God.
( 124 )
THE SACRED HISTORY OF DREAMS. 125
Life can only proceed from the living, and thought
from the thinking : mind from mind. The marks of
design in the material construction of our bodies,
lead to the thought of mind in that whence they
originated, and we are intellectually led to attribute
personality to that in which we rest as the first Cause
of all.
This shows either that intuition leads man to
worship, or that in early days he was with God face
to face. Whichever view is taken, the effort of men
in all known ages, whether we think of the legend as
to stolen Promethean Fire ; or of Jacob's experience
as to a ladder of angelic ascent and descent ; man's
method of rising to God and God's visiting of man
form a striking part in all history sacred and profane ;
hence we have the Sacred History of Dreams.
Laying aside all former secular caricatures of
divination, as senseless and God-abandoned abomina-
tions ; and without reference to clairvoyance, to spirit-
rapping, or to any system of modern profanity ; and
at once saying, "We do not regard disease as a
prophet of wisdom ; nor sin, death, and the devil as
lords of creation ; " but in broad sound health, in
God's truth blessing man in the natural ways and in
the laughing sunshine of the universe, we give
ourselves to the study of Scripture-Dreams as a
reasonable argument and revelation concerning our
immortality.
There were earlier visions by day and night, but
the first recorded dream is (Gen. xx. 3) when God
warned Abimelech that Sarah was Abraham's wife.
126 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
The king was not only kept from sin, the patriarch
was preserved from scandal, the sanctity of marriage
was vindicated, and God's Providence was manifested
in the affairs of those who were willing to be guided.
Careth God for little things ? Verily, who shall say
what is little ? Is not the Life of God represented in
man ? and — we go further than the words of Pro-
tagoras, " Man is the measure of the universe " — are
not the whole affairs of that universe photographed in
every raindrop ?
As we obtain special pictures or visual representa-
tions, by means of intelligent action as to nature ; so is
the prophet's dream representative. When this dream
passes into the mind by word or language, it is not
only a picture, but a revelation. If the prophets tell
wonderful dramas of trumpets and armies of angels,
how are we to know the truth ? We may take our
own dreams, in their distinct and spreading images,
by which we know that our inward powers are at
work. If our truest and best parts awake from
indolence and selfishness to a sense of duties,
privileges, dangers, in connection with splendid pro-
spects, we shall find our mind enlarge. If the waste
mental places are so occupied that the unknown
seems best known, and Heaven is nearer than earth,
we have been drawn nearer to God, to the truth, and
not to a lie.
The dream of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 12-15) shows that
the wanderer, go whither he may, has God with him,
God's care over him, God's love and wisdom and
power preserving him. This dream was referred to
THE SACRED HISTORY OF DREAMS, 127
by Jesus when He told Nathanael about the angels
of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man
(John i. 51). It was one of those figurative repre-
sentations by which the ancients were led to under-
stand somewhat as to the personal life of God in
man ; so that many, like Abraham, saw the day of
Christ (John viii. 56) ; the sufferings of many were
for the sake of Christ (Heb. xi. 26) ; and all had
views through faith of immortality (Heb. xi. 13, 14).
A further dream of Jacob (Gen. xxxi, 11-13) is a
revelation that God will give the prosperity of large
increase, and that Laban's covetous and selfish con-
duct shall not deprive Jacob of a due reward. Jacob
seemed cut off from his fellows, and now a heavenly
intimation is given that the great God is of such
kinship and so near in relationship that Jacob may
rely upon Divine care. To the same effect and as a
warning unjust Laban (Gen. xxxi. 24) received
admonishment that he was not in any way, good or
bad, to interfere with Jacob, who was specially cared
for of God.
These marvels appeal to the mysteries in ourselves.
Few of us are conscious enough of them, we repress
rather than bring them to the light. If we were
wise these, we call weak parts of our nature, would
become germs of our greatest powers. In the things
that we are now blind we should see. Consider as to
this. Every one notices in physical, vital, intellectual
nature, the contact and contrast of good and' bad, of
true and false. The rules by which we act in regard
to this are dictated to a sound mind by thought and
128 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
experience. The true prophet knows in a similar
way, and, additionally by touch of God, is conscious
of a Divine authoritative communication ; and is
alive to that highest illumination concerning which
a godless man is dark and dead. The true prophets
know, as we should know if so dealt with, that the
light and life of the natural senses, and of the natural
reason, are raised on high. They are in a realm
of life and power, of holiness and truth, in which
nothing false can dwell and where no doubt exists.
The dreams of Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. S-io), of the
sheaves doing obeisance to his sheaf, and of the sun,
moon, and stars honouring him, are not to be
accounted as arising from the fumes of vanity and
pride. Prophetic of his future destiny, they aided
the accomplishment, and confirmed Joseph's faith in
God's presence and protection. There is in all men,
unless they are utterly reprobate, a desire to know of
God as nigh to them in care, in love, and beneficent
power. Doubtless, these dreams enabled Joseph to
persevere in the pursuit of honour, against all adversity,
and in the maintenance of purity despite temptation.
The dreams of Pharaoh's chief Butler and chief
Baker, the former to restoration of honour and pro-
longing of life, the latter to infamy and death ; were
not an accidental coincidence of little value, but a
part in the Divine Plan by which, working naturally
and humanly, the Lord prepared for Joseph's deliver-
ance from prison. Then Pharaoh's dream of the
seven well-favoured kine, and of the seven ill-favoured
kine that did eat them up, followed by the dream
THE SACRED HISTORY OF DREAMS. 129
of seven ears of corn rank and good, devoured by the
seven east wind withered ears, were prophetic ; of
which the interpretation was revealed to Joseph. The
wisdom of this young man, acquired in adversity
by faith in God, who seemed to hide Himself, was
the means of providing a sojourning place for his
father and brethren until the time appointed ; of
showing also by figure of another, a greater than
Joseph, who, separated from His brethren, should
save His brethren ; and a means, beside, of giving
the Egyptians an opportunity of using their civiliza-
tion and scientific skill for the honour of God.
These dreams of Joseph, and of those who were
made the means of his advancement, were all parts
of one and the same plan. The Butler's, Baker's, and
Pharaoh's dreams, could not be interpreted by the
quasi-scientific methods in use amongst the Egyptians.
God was His own interpreter. None but He, by the
mouth of Joseph, could make plain their meaning.
If we, for our part, rightly look upon these dreams as
preparing, in the most natural way with the least
interference with human will, those earthly arrange-
ments by which the supreme love and wisdom of the
Eternal were to be displayed by Redemption through
Christ Jesus ; we shall endeavour to find their
counterparts in Heaven ; we shall lift up our minds
to the angelic messengers speeding on God's errands ;
we shall think of unslumbering spirits spontaneously
working in the invisible universe for those preliminary
processes which eventuate in that series of visible
and natural functions wherein man becomes volun-
K
I30 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
tarily a fellow- worker with God. The arrangements
for the dreams, the dreams themselves, the angelic
and human co-operation, all bear the seal of immor-
tality. The supernatural and the natural blend.
Mind, working independently of matter, makes use of
matter for the fulfilment of mental purposes. Divine
Mind reveals to the human mind things to come,
enabling us to see and enter an existence, and to
know of things, not yet in being, so that even in the
body we live somewhat apart from the body. We
have in the whole a natural history of immortality,
of the so to speak natural mode, or use of means,
by which events to come are brought about. The
veil is drawn up from the two ends of time, the past
and the future, and we are prepared for the life that
will be.
There is something analogous in our own scenic
mental images of the invisible. Duly cared for and
disciplined they paint themselves in the corridors of
our thought and beautify the whole personality of our
existence. The sense of mental beauty and of
spiritual power and purity is not the whole of the
gain. The contents of our nature taking up a new
reverence, hearing a new message, and having a new
vision, are tinctured with diviner apprehension,
sympathy, and sense of God's near presence. The
elevation is accompanied by a breadth comprehensive
of all good men. The harmonious chords of the
universe embrace and fill the whole earth with
melody. They are world-movers, blessed and blessing
powers among men.
THE SACRED HISTORY OF DREAMS. 131
Krummacher gives a legend to this effect. Adam,
resting under a tree, looked to heaven and wished
that he might soar to the stars. At once, it was as
if an angel touched him, and he flew to the vault of
the sky. Radiant worlds, like the sun, rushed by
and yet worlds and worlds were beyond. Was he
indeed guided by the angel ? No, his body remained
under the tree ; but within that body were the facul-
ties of a seraph which rose in contemplation of the
heavenly splendours, and in rising higher and higher
presented a more and more noble worship with deeper
humility.
Building up our conception that all things touch
the miraculous ; and that rightly regarded our own
life and all present existence are the materials which
form the Natural history of Immortality, and is con-
firmed by Scripture ; we rely on these facts. We
have an irresistible propensity to refer ourselves and
all other things to a Power beyond us, sublime,
mysterious ! not to be measured, nor comprehended ;
but so apprehended that this, the boundless and the
unfathomed, lies before us. Outward matters are our
stepping-stones ; consciousness, spontaneousness, are
the light in which we move ; spiritual perceptions,
growing out of natural sensations, come natural as
breath. From a mountain, a waterfall, twilight
gloom, a dream, we carry the eye within, and then
we look beyond : we find within and we find without
something unbounded. Our mind is a figure or
emblem of some other spirituality. Our body and
all matters not our body, are a changeable garment,
132 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
or varying expression, of some unchangeable Form.
Our mind is not limited, in its work, to this or that
kind of sense or object. We meddle with and
improve our sight, and sense of smell ; take super-
intendence and enlarge or limit all. the rivulets of
sensation ; and make them rivers that run into a
measureless ocean. We thus go beyond present life
and present nature ; and our soul, being refreshed
with new images and new discoveries of things, we
enlarge our reason, extend our knowledge, spread our
territories of apprehension, as by a magnetism which
drawing us higher augments us ; and which, carrying
us forward, reveals destinations. We feel and know
that the likeness of God is in us ; and that in us so
lives His Life that we shall live for ever.
XVII.
^6e ^ntxtb l^istorg of Brtams.— II.
Joseph Amyraldus, grouping the tests as to any dreams being of
Divine authority, notes, as one proof, that they convey intimations of
things which only God could know and reveal. — ^J. W. R.
* ' The nervous system, when in a highly excited state, becomes sus-
ceptible of impressions not ordinarily received, and is put in communi-
cation, in some way to us mysterious, with scenes, places, and events,
far distant, so as to become strangely cognizant of the coming future." —
Prof. Joseph Haven, Mental Philosophy.
THERE is no better guard against superstition as
to dreams than the statements of Scripture
as to their general uselessness, and as to the folly of
trusting in them. Those who claimed to be prophets
because dreamers of dreams were not only to be dis-
regarded but to be punished (Deut xiii. 1-5). Zophar
said the wicked *' shall fly away as a dream, and shall
not be found ; yea, he shall be chased away as a
vision of the night " (Job xx. 8). Asaph declares of
the ungodly, " As a dream when one awaketh ; so,
O Lord, when Thou awaketh, Thou shalt despise their
image " (Ps. Ixxiii. 20). Solomon found that " in
the multitude of dreams and many words there are
( 133 )
134 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
also divers vanities " (Eccles. v. 7). Isaiah (xxix. 7),
Jeremiah (xxiii. 27, 28, 32), and the whole testimony
of Holy Writ show that ordinary dreams and visions
are worse than valueless.
The Midianite's dream (Judg. vii. 13) was to dis-
courage the Midianites and to encourage Gideon.
Solomon's dream (i Kings iii. 11-15) was an assur-
ance that wisdom, wealth, and long life, were in the
hand of God. It is hard to think of a better way in
which a king, circumstanced as he was, could have
been more strikingly and efficiently warned without
interference with personal freedom. We find that
Daniel (i. 17) "had understanding in all visions and
dreams. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the Image ; and
interpreted by Daniel (ii. 36-45) of the four empires,
destroyed by a stone cut out of a mountain ; indicated
that the Providence of God would establish a lasting
kingdom to display the righteousness and power of
God. " The dream is certain, and the interpretation
thereof sure."
The further dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iv.
10-27) was a rebuke and warning to that great
monarch. Had he broken off his sins by righteous-
ness, and his iniquities by showing mercy, doubtless
his reason would have been prolonged and enlarged.
He is another example of the almost insoluble
problem : for the gift of freedom to contain not only
the power to mould man's conduct, but also to form
and ameliorate his character by use of proper
means. The reverse problem is not less difficult,
that the response of man's will to the leadings of
THE SACRED HISTORY OF DREAMS. 135
the Divine Spirit shall be free and loving, not by
constraint.
After this, Daniel, the Dream Interpreter, himself
had a dream (vii. 1-14). It seems to have been the
repetition in another form of Nebuchadnezzar's dream
(Dan. ii. 31-45). The king saw the kingdoms, with
a royal eye, in splendour. The prophet beheld them
in their tyrannical, fierce, rapacious character, like
great beasts, and as enemies of God. He saw the
end of all their evil domination ; and the rule of one
like the vSon of Man, a universal sway established by
Divine power, with full agreement of Heaven and
Earth, men being in righteous obedience, and God
resting upon them in His love.
The other dreams are those of the New Testament.
That of Joseph (Matt. i. 20-23) concerning the im-
maculate conception, by the Virgin Mary, of our
Saviour. It is a dream which to every devout mind
interprets truly the prophecy of Isaiah (vii. 14) and
asserts incontrovertibly the fact that Jesus was, as
declared by John (i. 14, 34), made flesh by being
begotten of God ; was, indeed, the Son of God.
After that the Wise Men, being warned in a dream
(Matt. ii. 12), returned, having seen Christ, to their
own country by another way without visiting Herod.
Then we have the angel of God directing Joseph, by
a dream, to take the child Jesus into Egypt (Matt. ii.
13). After the death of Herod Joseph is directed to
return with the child to Israel (Matt. ii. 22). Last of
all, Pilate's wife is warned (Matt, xxvii. 19) that the
great Prisoner, detained as a malefactor, was a just
136 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
man to whom no harm should be done. We easily
understand the value of these dreams to Joseph.
They were God's assurance of the spotlessness of
Mary and of the Divine care for the Divine Son.
The Wise Men were assured by their dream that
they had indeed seen Him whom Balaam named
the "Star" (Numb. xxiv. 17); and that they, as
Gentiles, had walked in the light of God (Isa. Ix. 3).
Pilate was left to act as he saw fit ; to him a
dream would appear a thing not to be regarded,
or as coercion — depriving him of responsibility.
His wife received the dream : she might well use
her influence for her husband's good. It shows
that even the worst of men are not left without
admonition,
God created us holy and free, we abused the
freedom to become unholy. Then came marvellous
interferences. Noah preached righteousness, and
built the Ark, a testimony of his sincerity, and of
his own certainty that unrighteousness would be
punished. Abraham was taken out from his people,
and Divinely protected as a righteous witness,
example, and teacher. Dreams many and marvellous
were given. Moses wrought an unmatched deliver-
ance ; and gave a Law, the like of which, in simplicity
and comprehensiveness, is not to be found. Ceremonies
and observances were established, Prophets prophesied,
and miracles were continually wrought. All these
seemed in vain. Last of all. He sent His Son, that
the greatest love God can show and the best gift
man can receive shall be shown and given that by all
THE SACRED HISTORY OF DREAMS. 137
means men may be saved. Shall all be in vain ?
God forbid.
There are men to whom nothing is of any good.
In Glasgow, years ago, was a " Hell Club," an infidel
association. Archibald Boyle was the leading member.
They all strove to outdo one another in blasphemy
and debauchery. One night, after returning from the
club, Archibald dreamed that, riding home on his
black horse, some one seized the reins and said, " You
must go with me.'' The other cried, "Who are
you } " and struggled for the reins. " You will see
by-and-by," was the answer. The horse fled with a
speed nearly depriving the .rider of breath, but the
mysterious one continued grasping the reins. No
effort of Boyle availed to rescue them. The horse
reared and plunged madly all in vain. " Where are
you taking me } where, where am I going ? " " To
Hell ! " answered the unrelenting voice. The poor
wretch was carried, on and on, even to Hell ! He
saw the wicked there every one pursuing madly the
course of life that had been lived on earth with the
like wearisomeness, the same painfulness, with no
rest, no satisfaction, ''There is no Rest in Hell."
Love is turned to hatred, desire to disgust. A
thousand thousand voices cry ; many, many hearts
know ; " There is no Rest in Hell." " Let me go
hence," shrieked the maddened man. The Evil One
replied, " Go : in a year and a day we meet to part
no more."
Archibald Boyle awoke. It was a dream. Was
he saved ? For a few days he could not even leave
138 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
his bed, and resolved never again to attend the club.
Alas ! his companions came, they jeered, they called
him, " Fool." One by pretended sympathy won his
confidence, and then by ridicule led him back. Some
time after, at a meeting, the President of the club
said, " Gentlemen, this is leap year, therefore, it is
a year and a day since our last annual meeting.
Boyle would have rushed from the room, but had not
courage. They plied him with wine, but his former
brightness was now gloom, his pleasant laugh now
fiendish. He mounted the black horse to ride home.
In the morning his horse was found by the wayside,
and a few yards distant lay the dead body of
Archibald Boyle.
We relate the facts as we read them. They show
that dreams and miracles are in vain, a man will
resist them. We have declared the marvels and
mysteries of the power of God, of the wrath of God,
and of Hell-Doom, but a more congenial, a more
effecting work is that of the Love of God. Love is
stronger than Death, can overcome the Grave, can
conquer Satan, can rescue from Hell. Nothing can
resist Love, it wins your heart, purifies your life, saves
your soul. The Love of God in Christ enables a
man to do all things. It seems too costly for the
Son of God, the Prince of Life and Glory, to give His
limbs to the cross, and His heart to the spear. It is
an infinite love to give, an infinite price the cost. It
is no dream, but a transaction stretching out to ever-
lasting day. It is a miracle surpassing every other
miracle, a wonder-work exceeding all wonders. " God
THE SACRED HISTORY OF DREAMS, 139
was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself."
"Whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have
everlasting life."
" Mine is an unchanging love,
Higher than the heights above,
Deeper than the depths beneath,
Free and faithful, strong as death."
William Cowper,
XVIII.
'2t!)e ^c|)ool of ^atan.
" The depth of unscientific and unspiritual degradation into which a
man may be thrown is shown by the question of an Evolutionist : —
* Can one trust to the conviction of a monkey's mind ? ' The answer
is — * If the idea of God may be a phantom of an ape-like brain, can
we trust to reason or conscience in any other matter ? . . . Does not
this deprive science of the ennobling idea that nature is the develop-
ment of Divine Mind? " — Sir J. William Dawson, Modern Ideas of
Evolution^ p. 13.
" How shall he give kindling, in whose inward man there is no live
coal, but is all burnt out ? " — Sartor Resartus^ ch. iii.
COUNT DE LAVALETTE, while in prison,
dreamt that he was standing in Rue St.
Honore amidst silence and darkness. A slow un-
certain sound arose, and all at once a troop of cavalry-
came towards him — the men and horses all flayed.
The riders held torches, the red light of which fell
on faces without skins, their bloody muscles all bare.
Their hollow eyes rolled fearfully in the sockets, their
mouths opened from ear to ear, helmets of drooping
flesh horribly covered their hideous heads. The
horses were an awful spectacle, dragging their own
skins along bloody kennels. Terrified women looked
( 140 )
THE SCHOOL OF SATAN. 141
out of the windows, groans filled the air, and
Lavalette, without strength, unable to fly, was
petrified with amazement. Thousands of soldiers
marched on hour after hour, followed by an immense
number of artillery waggons full of bleeding corpses,
whose limbs still quivered. A disgusting smell of
blood and bitumen filled the air. Then the clock
struck, and the dreamer awoke. The march of death
vanished. That dream was never forgotten : a misery
of hours, but the real time was three minutes.
The lesson set forth is the dreadful march through
time of the tempted, the sinful, the miserable, the
dead, whom Satan allured, pierced with many sorrows
and murdered. The dream was but a drea,m, not so
the facts represented — they are real. The delusion
and destruction began when Adam was deceived. It
will continue until the last man is lost or saved. The
graves of the best men, of the noblest martyrs, were
all dug by Satan. What multitudes of tears, what
myriad drops of blood, have been shed ! Satan not
only made men mad on fields of battle, but caused
countless heroes to die even on the consecrated
ground of virtue and on the soil of truth. Men whose
spirit rose to self-denial, far more noble and beautiful
than any capacity we possess, he made to pass away
unknown to history and unhonoured.
Amidst all this evil, and in despite of it, the universe
reveals the wisdom and grandeur of God. Not only
so, Christ, the image of the invisible God, appeared
and makes us to learn, as never had been learned,
that God is Love. Christ was and is the fulness of
142 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Godhead bodily, and will come again in glory. Satan
is in opposition to this Christ, is the source of evil,
the deceiver, the betrayer of the first man at the
beginning of time ; and of all men who go astray to
the end of time. Satan will reappear, not as a
serpent, but as a satanic man, the antichrist, that
great demoniac, the fulness of the devil bodily, whose
end will be the Lake of Fire (Rev. xx. lo).
Satan, finding that Christ was the Divine man, the
model man, the representative of man to God, and
the impersonation of God in men for the salvation of
men, tempted Christ, but was utterly worsted. Then
endeavouring to make the College of Apostles a
Satanic School, he beguiled Judas through covetous-
ness ; and would have ruined Peter by pride and self-
conceit, but that Jesus, by prayer, rescued Peter and
again foiled Satan.
Man was tempted in Paradise, no wonder that the
Apostles were tried. The sublime greatness of Christ
was by an inevitable fact, man's weakness, shaded
and diminished by presentation in human form.
Though some of the Apostles mentally recognized
the Godhead, the vision was greatly obscured, both
to them and Satan, by the seeming depression and
prostration in man's body, limbs, features, and actions.
Majesty was shrouded as in a death-garb, man's sin
imposing profoundest humility. Neither Apostles
nor Satan saw fully, and Satan hoped to prevail. In
this false hope, the Powers of Hell set themselves
against Heaven, Satan opposed the Saviour, the
World was put in contrast to Paradise, and the school
THE SCHOOL OF SATAN, 143
of Satan always maligned the Church of the Living
God. *' Too well, too well, is told the tale of ill."
The battle was and is very fierce and real. Christ,
Himself, suffered and died through weakness. The
Church passes through great tribulation. Christ,
dying for man on the Cross ; and we, as believers,
buried in the Water of Baptism on account of sin ;
seem defeated, and the Powers of Hell prevail for a
season. The victory comes, and will come more
fully. " Heaven has a hand in all ; time serves,
wherein we may redeem our banished honours, and
restore ourselves by the enabling grace of God." In
that Death on the Cross Christ seemed defeated, and
the Apostles well-nigh lost faith and hope ; but in
the grave Christ, in close grip with Death, showed
that sin being the strength of Death He, the Sinless
One, could not and would not be detained. Hence
the resurrection of Christ guaranteed His Godhead
the perfect rescue of Peter, and our own complete
redemption. " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat :
but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not :
and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren "
(Luke xxii. 31, 32).
The School of Satan is made up of those scholars
who, learning his devices, carry out his maxims, and
are subject to him. " With skimble-skamble stuff"
they would put us from our faith in God. They
entangle right and wrong to make the wrong seem
better, virtue be insipid, rectitude of character and
conduct appear devoid of the picturesque and
144 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
magnificent, and " leave behind a stain upon the
beauty of all parts beside." Some of them profess
what they call " Higher Biblical Criticism," and pay
no more respect to the Bible than we do to " Robinson
Crusoe " and " Gulliver's Travels." They assert that
there is no Supernatural, that all clever men are
inspired much in the same way as were the Prophets
and Apostles ; that indeed there are no true prophets,
but excited and self-illuminated minds throw their
own light on the future, and mistake that light for
prophecy. Destroying, in their own minds, the truth
that Holy Scripture is, in especial, the Word of God ;
they assert that Christ is not the Son of God ; that
we need not and have not any Divine Lamp shining
in dark places ; that there is no Divine Saviour to
rescue us from Satan, for no Satan exists. They
have to take the guilt of conscience for their labour ;
and the Devil, who tells them they do well, also says
as they sink downward, " their deeds are chronicled in
hell." St. Paul said that for his part, though he had
known Christ after the flesh, henceforth he would know
Him no more (2 Cor. v. 16); but these scholars in the
School of Satan declare that only in the flesh can He
be known. Like Satan, they profess to have higher
knowledge of various kinds, and to penetrate secrets
unknown to other men. Alas ! their false knowledge
leads to defect of manners, want of government,
pride, haughtiness, disdain, " beguiling them of com-
mendation." The God of this world, that very Satan
whose existence they deny, has blinded their minds
by their own unbelief They cannot see the glorious
THE SCHOOL OF SATAN. 145
light of the Gospel, nor behold in Christ the very
image of God. Professing themselves to be wise,
they have become fools (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4). Thus Satan
breeds revengement and a scourge for them.
Moses knew that men professing superior, even
occult knowledge would try to persuade people that
it is better to be sinners than saints. He said, " If
there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of
dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the
sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake
unto thee, saying. Let us go after other gods, which
thou hast not known, and let us serve them ; thou
shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or
that dreamer of dreams : for the Lord your God
proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul"
(Deut. xiii. 1-3). The same warning was repeated by
St. John in the First Epistle (iv. i) — " Beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God : because many false prophets are gone out into
the world." St. Paul, animated by holy zeal, declares,
"If any man preach any other Gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed "
(Gal. i. 9).
The recorded desire of Satan to possess Peter, and
the prayer of Christ that Peter's faith fail not, are
proof of Satanic existence. Evil spirits, greatly kept
from good men, make bad men their special prey,
deceive them by many delusions, by subtle sophistry,
and cause them to dream of safety while sudden
destruction is coming upon them : they waste time,
L
146 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
and time wastes them. There was a host ready to
deceive Ahab, and one was appointed to be the
deceiver (i Kings xxxi. 19-23) ; Ahab, unbelieving,
perished. *' Let not any think/' says Luther, " the
devil is now dead, or asleep : as He that keepeth
Israel, so he that hateth Israel, neither slumbereth
nor sleepeth."
It is a proper question for reverent and thoughtful
men to ask, " How God, who is Light, alloweth Satan,
who IS darkness, to continue ? " We reply, " It is
part of the Divine Plan to make better men and
angels by allowing them freedom, than they could
possibly be made in thraldom whether good or bad ;
and there can be no true freedom without risk of abuse.
How sweet is music ! but, as Shakespeare said —
" How sour sweet music is,
When time is broke, and no proportion kept !
So is it in the music of men's lives. "
Light can be turned to darkness thus : when two
lights from one source, though both good, oppose one
another, both are extinguished. If they strengthen
one another, the light is greater. Light, whether you
mean physical light or mental light, acts by, what is
scientifically called, "the superposition of small
motions." It was, doubtless, by many small wrong
movements Satan was led into great transgressions ;
and we men are thus, little by little, deluded until
our light becomes darkness. Many a misguided man
has to say with King Richard —
** I was not made a horse ;
And yet I bear a burden like an ass."
THE SCHOOL OF SATAN, 147
St. Paul says, "We are not ignorant of Satan's
devices" (2 Cor. ii. 11). His thoughts work in men,
whether they sleep or are awake, with manifold
mischief. Tertullian states they are subtle injections.
St. Augustine bemoaned the mischief that he suffered,
from the injection of sinful dreams. Dream-sins are
very dangerous, they insidiously mar the character ;
and, inducing to evil when asleep, do the more easily
beguile men when awake. Jeremiah (xxiii. 25, 26)
warns deceivers and men of evil dreams that God is
against them. When a man finds that ill-managed
scientific investigations lead to indecision about
religion ; and that cleverness in handling natural
things makes him, like Jannes and Jambres, to resist
sacred marvels ; he should cultivate a more God-like
deduction ; seek personal communion with Christ,
and for more comfortable light and holiness in his
own soul. No longer pray faintly, as one to be
denied ; but pray with heart, soul, and all besides ;
praying till temptation is out-prayed ; then shall
come the mercy that true prayers are sure to have.
" O happy vantage of a kneeling knee ! "
Dreams are sometimes a touchstone of morals. A
diseased, ill-conditioned mind often causes sinful
dreams, and these aid the downward course by
heretical speculations in religion, by inaccuracy in
science, by ill-interpreting of philosophy.
There is no good work done in or by man without
the help of God ; and there is no bad work done apart
from assistance by the devil. Will a man be Judas ? the
devil enters him. Is Peter to be tempted? into that
148 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
the devil thrusts himself. Are Ananias and Sapphira
to lie unto the Holy Ghost? it is by Satanic delusion.
William Smellie ("Philosophy of Natural History")
says, " To deny the possibility of supernatural delu-
sions, either when asleep or awake, would be both
presumptuous and absurd. On the contrary, I can
conceive a superior being so fully acquainted with the
human frame ... as to be able to excite in the
mind what ideas he may think proper." It becomes
Christians to pray for all deluded and self-deluding
men, as Christ prayed for Peter, that they perish not.
OGod!
** If some poor wandering child of Thine
Have spurned to-day the voice divine,
Now, Lord, the gracious work begin ;
Let him no more lie down in sin."
KebU,
These deluders and deluded not only lose the desire
and power to do good, they lose correctness and
directness of thought. They call the Genesis account
of Creation "a sort of poetical prelude to a collection
of ancient writings of religious and moral import."
We answer, *' Yes ; " but when we show that the
living picturesque narrative is of vaster meaning than
words, and of greater depth than the material
figures, they insist upon the narrowest and rigidest
meaning ; though every thinker knows that language
never did nor can put into words the full significance
of acts and things, and though the greatest geologists
and astronomers accept the Divine account as the
best that could be given.
A man narrowed by some stringent restricting
THE SCHOOL OF SATAN, 149
pursuit, and unacquainted with those spiritual reaches
of thought which belong to religion, will bring
mechanical powers and calculations pretending by
their means to investigate higher Christian truths ;
then he will speak and act, quite ignorant of them,
as though he fully knew them. He refuses to accept
the Fall of Man, the Building of the Ark, the Deluge,
and whatever is wonderful, even while allowing that
matter, about which he speaks so confidently ; and
force, which he so limits ; and the origin of man,
which he says is no marvel ; are not yet settled, even
by those who most confidently speak as exponents
of materialism and evolution. " Man,'* he says, "has
not fallen but risen ; " yet, with the words in his
mouth, he knows that no man, nor any people, has
ever risen from a low barbarous condition apart from
the influence of those in a higher state.
Every cultured unbeliever calls the mechanical part
of nature, and his own sensual part, to witness that
there is no spiritual part ; that science is destroying
spirituality, faith, and every form of religion, though
never, except probably in the Apostles' days, amongst
the few, was there more earnest and self-denying faith
than exists now amongst the many. This spiritual
nature being to all the devout in heart a perpetual
Evangel, a great symbol of God, a psalm of triumph.
It is right to regard all good men, so far as they
are good, God made visible ; and evil men as the
devil brought into view ; even as the universe, rightly
understood, is a majestical unveiling of the Almighty.
Heaven, everywhere revealing itself on earth, is a
ISO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
testimony of God's will that there is a higher life for
man. We believe this, and faith is the one thing
needful to make weak men strong and brave as
martyrs. It enables them to say, " God is in us, and
Christ is our all-sufficient Saviour. Despite all Satan
can do, all that his school of evil men perform, we
shall live for ever. Heaven and earth may pass
away, but God's promise, Christ's word and Christ's
work, shall not pass away. Christ has opened
Heaven for us, and by dwelling among us recon-
secrated the earth, given a new meaning, exhibited
new graces, and shed a new light on the light of life.
XIX.
CCasting out ^M%.
** The world is all a wonder. Wonder is.
And only is, the upward attitude
The mind assumes to what transcends its gaze ;
But earnest eyes o'er common things transcend ;
And there is nothing that we think we know
Which, if we knew it better, would not wear
The aspect of a miracle."
John Cleland, Sca/a Natura.
Junction of the Supernatural and Natural.
THE point at which supernatural power comes in
contact with natural things is not precisely-
known. Whether it is always high up in the beginning
and at the birth of the natural succession of things ;
or whether there is a special and continual coming
out, moment by moment, by which general providence
becomes particular even to the falling of a sparrow ;
we cannot determine by physical science.
General and Particular Government of the World.
The occurrence of miracles, the statements of
Scripture, the reality of prophecy warrant our belief
( isi )
152 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
that God appoints and maintains the course of the
worlds. With regard to men, when their will inter-
feres with and changes the mechanical course of
things, that interference is always kept within bounds
and readjusted by natural forces ; this shows that
there is an all-embracing arrangement of the universe.
Besides the general, Christians believe that a special
providence includes all things, and like a good angel
of God guides human life.
The Supernatural made Visible.
All visible things are representations of the in-
visible ; and wherever Eternal Power directly operates,
without use of intermediates, we consider that a
miracle is wrought ; and the miracle is a visible
supernatural, a proof of the invisible supernatural, an
intelligible medium between the two worlds, connect-
ing that part of nature which we do know with that
which we do not know.
This supernatural linking gives high meaning to a
natural supernatural linking. There are certain
external conditions so in accord with mental internal
impressions that nature seems part of the soul, and
the soul part of nature. The vitality in nature's
essence circulating in our blood ; our blood and
nature respond to one another from utmost depths.
Then nature seems to die, mortal malady seizes us,
but at the limit of natural and human force some
supernatural, some superhuman power, takes away
the impotence ; and one can say in the words of Job,
CASTING OUT DEVILS. 153
" I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but
now mine eye seeth Thee ; " and another speaks like
St. Paul — " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless
I live : yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself
for me " (Gal. ii. 20).
Maleficent Power.
We accept, as part of science, that nature every-
where touches the supernatural, whatever we see
represents the unseen. Some of the seen things are
physically and morally bad, are not in obedient
relation to that Eternal Power whom we regard as
wholly pure and beneficent, but representative of the
impure and maleficent. Wherever this evil, whatever
it may be, acts directly an evil mastery is declared,
an unnatural supernatural works a destructive miracle,
such as those which are to be wrought in the last
days ; such as those that were wrought when demons
in the bodies of men resisted our Lord, when Jannes
and Jambres withstood Moses.
Reality of Evil Power.
Is evil of this character conceivable ? Certainly, or
what do physical, mental, moral evils, mean ? What
did our Lord's works signify when He cast out
demons ? There are evils in the world greater than
man is able to cause. In various degrees of clearness
154 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
the existence of demons, of devils, of evil spirits, is
declared again and again in Holy Scripture. Every
quality and action which can include personality is
attributed to them in language which cannot be
reasonably explained away. Go whither and where
you will, all nations have believed and do believe in
ghosts, good and bad. The most intelligent, most
civilized, powerful and rich of the nations, regard
Christ's great works, done against evil spirits, as real
works. Only those doubt as to spirits, who are them-
selves in evil thrall.
Personal Opposition to Christ.
Our Lord was tempted, specially, forty days and
forty nights ; passed, because of evil influence, many
dark hours ; and was so placed in demoniac power as
to be for awhile forsaken of God. The recorded
miracles against devils are those as to the demoniacs
in the Gadarene country, the demoniac in the Syna-
gogue of Capernaum, the healing of a lunatic child,
and those many various ones which are only generally
mentioned, as castings out of devils. They indicate
that more persons are in evil bondage than is com-
monly thought. The lunatic child is proof that even
young persons, for reasons unknown to us, may be
led astray. The demoniac in the Synagogue shows
that Satan is not shut out from Church, nor Chapel,
nor Synagogue. The miracle at Gadara requires
special investigation.
CASTING OUT DEVILS, 155
The Triple Narrative.
St. Matthew speaks of two demoniacs (viii. 28-34) \
St. Mark (v. 1-20), St. Luke (viii. 26-39), mention one
only. One, for some unknown reason, falls into the
background ; the other, as more known because more
remarkable, comes into full view.
Facts Proving the Possession.
Jesus says implicitly and explicitly that the man
was possessed. There could be no collusion between
the swine and the possessed person. There was no
uncertainty in the minds of the swine-owners about
the reality of their loss. Experience shows that the
lower animals are susceptible of madness, and there
is no known impossibility in the transfer of spiritual
influence from one person or thing to another.
Physical science cannot disprove any reported case
of possession ; and this case is not only the most
wonderful, but the best proved of all.
Further Facts.
Physiology finds parallels in nature for the most
supernatural kind of events. Besides, the miracles
of Scripture are not separable from the doctrines ;
they are an essential part of our Christian Faith.
You cannot put away miracle unless you put away
the Deliverance from Egypt, the giving of the Ten
Commandments, all Prophecy, Inspiration, the Divine
156 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Birth of our Lord, His Works, Resurrection, Ascen-
sion, the Coming of the Holy Ghost, and whatever
proves our Faith to have Divine Sanction. Miracle
is the symbol of God in Nature. His law in our
instinct. His morality in our reason, are miracles.
Destruction of the Swine.
As to the rushing of those swine to destruction, it
was a punishment of the Jewish owners for keeping
an unclean animal which the Law commanded them
not to keep (Lev. xi. 7, 8). If you admit the miracle,
as miracle, it was wrought by a Will and Wisdom
whom you cannot accuse of wrong. If a miracle was
not wrought, it is folly to exclaim against destruction
of the pigs, seeing there was no destruction. As per-
mitted by our Lord, it was a taking away that He
might bestow things better worth the having : the
better things were refused. The slaughter, as done
by the evil spirits, illustrates an old saying — " The
devil takes his pigs to a bad market." Viewed as
evidence it proves the miracle.
Destruction of the Swine is Proof that the
Man was Possessed.
The man was not merely mad : madness could
not go from him and enter them. Whatever broke
down the physical barriers between his own senses
and the demons' influence, even to the profaning of
all that was sacred in him, was also physically
CASTING OUT DEVILS, 157
destructive in the swine. It shows that all physical,
mental, moral evil, are different degrees of one erring
influence. That evil which our human consciousness
has knowledge of; all material nature, living and
unliving, bears marks of. It is tyrannizing, cruel,
inexorable. It spares not young, nor old ; man, nor
woman. It makes light, dark ; and even the good
God to seem as if He had part with Belial. To
raise the good from the contamination and power of
evil and the Evil One Christ came, and Christ worked
miracles against evil and the Evil One. By taking
our flesh and spirit He gives power to the body, and
power to the spirit. By living with us, by taking
hold of nature. He gives that power to our life, if
we will use it ; and that presence Divine to natural
material substances ; by which we and they shall be
purged, renewed, and all evil be cast into a lake of fire.
The Swine-Feeders themselves prove the Miracle.
The swine-feeders could not say that Christ had
maliciously destroyed their property. At the utmost.
He only allowed the evil spirits to take their own
wicked course and go whither they would. He, in
goodness, liberated the man ; they, the demons, in
wickedness, destroyed the swine. Christ's act was
wholly of mercy ; theirs, utterly bad. Had there been
any collusion, were it possible to bring home a charge
against Him of wrong-doing, they would not beg Him
to go, but apprehend and take Him to the judge.
158 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
The General Refusers of Miracles.
The men who refuse Christ are of two great classes :
those evil ones whose violence shows that they are
body and soul under Satanic influence ; and those
worldly ones whose unbelief counterworks the truth,
whether in themselves or in others. The fierce ones,
whose devilish malice is more violent than the
elemental wars of nature, are not so dangerous as
those who effectually do the devil's work by saying,
"There is no devil.'' Our Lord shows His mercy
in rescuing those whom Satan has maddened ; He
regards them as men to be pitied. The others,
whited sepulchres, wholly corrupt within, are none
the better for miracles, do not believe and tremble.
When Christ Himself comes to them, when a work is
done that cannot be denied, they do not say, " Lord,
what wilt Thou have us to do t " They prefer that
He depart. More swinish than the swine, worse than
the demoniac, they say, "Go from us, go from us."
The Lord leaves them as that Herod to whom He
said not a word.
** Tempted oft to go astray,
Jesu Christ, be Thou my way ;
Mock'd with shadowy dreams of youth,
Jesu Christ, be Thou my truth ;'
Wearied out with manhood's strife,
Jesu Christ, be Thou my life ;
Such to Thy saints wast Thou of yore,
Unchangeable Thou art, and shalt be evermore."
Monsell.
XX.
^l^t i^tstotB of ^atan : Jnttoiructfon.
" Scripture teaches the absolute subordination of evil ... in the fact
that the evil roots itself in a creature, and in one created originally pure,
but the good in the Creator. . . . The opposition of this evil to the
will of God is most real. . . . The world is not a chess-board on which
God is in fact playing both sides of the game, however some of the
pieces may be black, and some white. . . . The whole end of His
government of the world is the subduing of this evil ; not abolishing of
it by main force, which were no true victory ; but overcoming it by
righteousness and truth." — Richard Chenevix Trench, Archbishop
of Dublin, TAe Miracles of our Lord, p. 155.
CHARLES KINGSLEY, in "Hypatia," wrote
that he did not care " to be balancing nineteen
pounds weight of questionable arguments against
twenty pounds weight of more questionable argu-
ments " — so say all. We want no " faith of hearsays,"
but that reasonable faith, satisfactory to our intelli-
gence, on which we can act surely. Having this, we
shall not be greatly disturbed, though Satan's lawyer,
holding a brief against us, reasons as were he another
sort of being, closely connected with the superior
powers.
A fool may sit in the scientific man's seat, and,
( 159 )
i6o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
despite the seat, not know that the whole universe,
from the sun overhead to the pebble at our feet, is
utterly mysterious, magical, miraculous ; and in its
own way, prophesying, foretelling, and out-telling
things to come. A drop of water, to the vulgar eye,
is but a drop of water; yet is it held together by
a force which suddenly liberated will produce a flash
of lightning. The snow-flake suggests high associa-
tions in its wondrously varied and elegant forms of
snow crystals. The rock, marked with deep scratches,
is a whole history to him who knows that a glacier
slid on this rock a million years ago. Be not blind
to the poetry, the romance, the prophecy, the history,
with which you are surrounded. Lanes and hedge-
rows are full of interest to him who in early days
collected insects and plants. All dark places shine
with light and history if you have searched for fossils,
those embedded treasures. Every owner of a micro-
scope, or of an aquarium, rightly used, knows that he
has in them a view of miracles in the past, and a
prophesying of glorious things nigh at hand.
Good and evil, virtue and vice, duty and trans-
gression, righteousness and sin, are not mere words.
They are the results of causes, visible and invisible ;
some within, some beyond the limits of our observa-
tion. The material world, and all in it, represent the
unseen world, and the things of it. Fights here,
fights there, fights everywhere ; beauty and ugliness,
order and confusion, power and weakness ; make a
show of greater strifes which are out of view. Nature
represents all these, and would not be nature unless it
THE HISTORY OF SATAN: INTRODUCTION. i6i
did. Nature is a result, influenced by affinities and
repulsions — unexpected, unknown, unfathomable.
Beside every good is some evil, in every life is some
sorrow, and a lesson is to be learned everywhere :
" Sad things in this life of breath
Are truest, sweetest, deepest. Tears bring forth
The richness of our natures, as the rain
Sweetens the smelling briar,"
Buchanan,
Good and evil are fourfold : physical, vital, mental,
moral. Physical evil sometimes causes suffering
which cannot be explained or vindicated, as pro-
ductive of greater happiness. Many vital evils cause
lifelong wretchedness which present no recognizable
advantages to the suflerer. Mental infirmities,
ignorances, perversities, may in part be classed with
moral obliquities ; which, latter, are in every sense
degrading. All these, whether we think of nature at
large, or of man in particular, come from something
more inward than is the outward show. Bolingbroke
said to King Richard, " The shadow of your sorrow
hath destroyed the shadow of your face." Richard
replied —
" Say that again.
The shadow of my sorrow? Ha ! let's see : —
'Tis very true, my grief lies all within ;
And these external manners of laments
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief,
That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul ;
There lies the substance."
King Richard I L, act iv.
Shakespeare stated a great truth : not merely that
the greater sorrows of a man are within, but that
all the pains, all the evils of man and of nature, are
M
i62 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
from a central source ; of which nature is the shadow.
No one has fully brought before us the horrors in
nature, and the cruelty of her operations. How is it
that the evil is so great? We say of God, as
Nehemiah did (ix. 6), "Thou, even Thou, art Lord
alone : Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens,
with all their host, the earth, and all things that are
therein, the sea, and all that is therein, and Thou
preservest them all." John Milton, endeavouring to
explain the origin of evil, went beyond warrant of
Scripture, as to the Histor}'' of the Personal Principle
of Evil ; but that which seems nighest romance, in
that wonderful work, *' Paradise Lost," is, of all the
poem, nearest truth. God created spiritual existences
truly good, and great as good ; but free to think
and act. Some of these, specially one, abused that
freedom —
'* With ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in Heav'n, and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurrd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky."
Paradise Losty The Argument^ bk. i.
This evil, extending from heaven to the earth, and
then, by delusion of man, corrupting human nature,
has thrown the course of nature out of gear, and made
life greatly to partake of sorrow. So far, at least,
the explanation may be accepted. We further say.
Evils are greater than those which can be explained
as coming from mere mechanism, and the unguided-
ness of nature. It is also easy to see, from the
misuse we make of our own freedom, how even
THE HISTORY OF SATAN': INTRODUCTION, 163
some of the angelic hearts, little by little, through
over-attending on themselves, would at last give but
shows of service to their God ; and so their service,
too indirect for long continuance, became transgres-
sion, and they fell. Doubtless, all-foreseeing Wisdom
would know of the loss ; and infinite resource would
turn the whole to greater good — sometime, some-
where ; even as with us, " some falls are means the
happier to arise."
** There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd :
The which observM, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life : which in their seeds.
And weak beginnings, lie intreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time."
King Henry IV., Part II., act iii. sc. I.
This History of Evil, as a real thing in nature,
represents some more malignant evil behind the veil
of nature ; so all the sorrows of the world, and of
man, are shadows of what is inward : inward as to
man, and inward as to nature. Holy Scripture goes
beyond this, and declares that the inwardness centres
in a personal spirit of evil. Every personal quality
and action are so applied to him, that we are not less
sure of the fact than of God's personality.
The word ** Satan " is the Hebrew personal name
for the Evil One. This, and the other word " Devil,'
mean Adversary. He is called the Ruler of this
world, thrice ; the Evil One, about six times ; and
the Tempter, twice.
It cannot be more clearly stated that the tooth
1 64 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
which bites us and the poison that infects are the
Great Serpent's tooth and poison ; and all good has
to be separated from some clinging evil. The tangled
maze will sometime, nevertheless, be untangled ; and
our own part in the work will be best wrought by
faithfully toiling on that ground which has been
given us to till. Indeed, every rational being is so
placed that trial and temptation create and display
moral qualities capable of mastering the evil ; though
sometimes there is a conjuring of shapes that almost
frighten us from ourselves, and sometimes forms of
allurement well-nigh intoxicate every sense ; and
there are those amongst us so dominated by wicked-
ness that they will not take any print of goodness.
It was not Romanism, it was the Devil in
Romanists, that prepared the Great Armada against
our religion and liberty; that devised the Gunpowder
Plot against our king and Parliament ; that was guilty
of the St. Bartholomew Massacre ; that made them
burn Ann Askew ; poor blind Joan Waste at Derby ;
and Mistress Joyce Lewis, a lady born ; but for the
Grace of God we might do the same. Every one of
us has a haunting, cowardly, cruel devil, about our
heart. Every irreligious man in the world holds his
present position with much wickedness and some
melancholy. Thomas Hood wrote —
** O'er all there hung the shadow of a fear,
A sense of mystery the spirit daunted,
And said, as plain as whisper in the ear,
The place is haunted."
The Haunted House.
Draw nigh unto God, through Jesus Christ, and
THE HISTORY OF SATAN: INTRODUCTION, 165
He will draw nigh unto you. A touch of God works
wonderfully, and His Word possesses creative power.
He who schools himself to say habitually to the Lord,
" Thy Will be Done,'' " hath not lost his day at set of
sun." The dying of ourselves to all self-conceit in
ourselves, is the beginning of our consciousness as to
the new life for us in God. When He intends to fill
our soul. He first empties it of self; when He will
enrich a soul. He first makes it poor in its own
esteem ; when He exalts a soul. He first humbles it ;
u'.en He gives salvation, He first makes it loathe all
sin. Then that soul, reading God's Providence as a
lesson-book, proves a right understanding by carrying
the careful prayerful study into strenuous work.
The world, even as it is, sometimes, and not seldom,
is very fair. How wondrous fair when, no longer a
passing, it is an eternal world ! God prodigally
blesses climes which have been almost unknown to
us from the beginning. If those splendours go
beyond our most brilliant dreams, what wonderfulness
of beauty will that be which, as the finished and
perfect work of goodness, of wisdom, of might, abides
before His Face for ever ! What a glorious victory
will that be which brings the world and ourselves
into the Higher, the Sublimer Service of God ! A
victory which all will share who, as soldiers of Jesus,
have fought and resisted Satan, have overcome evil
with good ! As fellow-conquerors, they will be
fellow-heirs with Christ in the Greater Life. They
will sit down in His Throne, even as Christ sits in
the Father's Throne (Rev. iii. 21).
XXI.
VLtt Uarger f^opc— lExistenct anb ICature of ^atan.
** We are not single ; Age with Age
Is linked ; and Truth's high heritage
Is the slow fruit of bended knees
Through the long growth of centuries.
Nor is it yet complete,
Nor yet all counterfeit."
Bishop's Walk: Oiivell.
*'Do everything In good time: then you will not be taken by
surprise.
" Do everything in the best way you can ; then you will be most able
to resist evil.
** Learn all you can about everything that is worth the learning:
then you will not be ignorant of the Evil One's devices." — Sayings.
The Existence of Satan.
'"I^HE Course of Nature and the Life of Man are a
-^ mixed process. All things are being tested,
exercised, and pass as they are used into further
existence. Things as things, life as life, mind as
mind, freedom as freedom, are striving to attain, after
their kind, the highest conceivable good. This good
seems to be obtained, whether physical or vital, in-
( i66 )
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF SATAN, 167
tellectual or moral, by practical abnegation of the
delusive, and by resistance to the debasing. More
particularly, as to men, there are sorrows by which
they truly live ; and there are intoxicating delights
whose work is death. The burning and shining fires
of intense true convictions within the soul's inmost
recesses, consuming the evil and purifying the good
as gold, are the life of every spirit. All of us, and
always in this life, have to resist evil, to do and dare
for good. By the conflict we shall be made great
winners, if we are true to God and ourselves. Here-
after, even the apparently least regarded, will be
made up with the Lord's jewels — most precious.
We gain glimpses of high control in nature by
which good is being made not less truly a possession
of the willing and responsible creature, than it is an
attribute of the Creator. We can go further than
that : the fall of the snowflake, the air preserving
every crystal in perfect form ; the strains of music
going on by certain laws which man did not make
but discover ; and pure thoughts, not less accurately
adjusted than the stars are poised ; are an out-telling
that all things will stand perfect and complete, separate
from evil and the Evil One.
In addition to what we acquire from nature, science,
philosophy, the testimony of Holy Scripture is very
clear in asserting the supremacy of good (Prov. xvi. 4 ;
Ps. xlv. 7 ; Amos iii. 6 ; Rom. ix. 22, 23). The evil
in the world, in the flesh, in the soul, and whatever
wrong is caused by Satan, will all be abolished
(i John iil 8 ; Rev. xii. 9; xx. 13).
i68 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
The same lesson may be learned everywhere. Take
a rose garden. Roses are of every shade, from lightest
and most brilliant yellow to richest and darkest
purple. An almost innumerable variety of beauties
developed from a few wild sorts. An imitation by
man of the great works of God. Not only roses,
the world is all before us, to choose everywhere a
lesson of nature's many prophecies and processes by
which the weak is made strong, the sinner righteous,
and the glory of God to cover the earth with a life
very grand. Nature, not knowing ; man, knowing
and willing ; God, guiding nature, also giving will,
wisdom, power, to man.
The existence of Satan is clearly proved by many
mysterious events. By the Serpent tempting our first
parents (Gen. iii.) ; by being proclaimed as the Devil
by our Lord (John viii. 44) ; and by appearing (Rev.
xii. 9) as the deceiver of the world. The Book of Job
further shows that he had access to Heaven ; but with
power and skill limited, as to Job, to outward natural
things. The Divine laws against consulting evil
priests indicate that Satan is ruler over many evil
angels, spirits, demons, and that to consult them is
an act of rebellion against God (Exod. xxii. 18 ;
Deut. xviii. 10) ; and leads to possession by them
(i Sam. xvi. 14; i Kings xxii. 22 ; Isa. viii. 19,20).
After the Babylonish captivity there are similar state-
ments, and that all evil will be overcome by the
power of a greater good and greater life (i Sam.
xxiv. I, 16; I Chron. xxi. i, 27; Zech. iii. i, 2;
I Pet. V. 8-1 1). In the New Testament a direful
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF SATAN 169
conflict is most unreservedly declared between Christ
and those with Him, on one side ; against Satan and
those with him, on the other. Our Lord Himself is
tempted ; wicked men are told that they are of their
father, the devil ; many persons are possessed, Peter
is entered, and Judas made captive and destroyed,
by the Evil One.
The existence of Satan is a fact of nature, of science,
of philosophy. Of nature and science, for that form
of evil, bad thought, springs from something within
that we are sure is not wholly of us. Even when we
would do good evil is present, how to do good some-
times we find not, and we cry out to be delivered.
Help comes, and we conquer Satan. Moral sentiment
is the basis of true power and understanding as to
laws, as to truth, and as to larger insights. Moral
sentiment is the foundation of all culture, spurs on
to new perceptions, corrects and enlarges old creeds ;
and ripens into that intellectual and emotional belief
which is commensurate with the grander orbits of
things and those universal principles which, when
best known, are the surest indications of a subduing,
all-embracing beneficent rule (Rev. xxi. 7).
The Nature of Satan.
Satanic personality is not less clearly stated. Satan
came with the sons of God in Heaven, and maligned
Job. David in the words against the wicked, " Let
Satan stand at his right hand" (Ps. cix. 6), de-
clared the Evil One to be the companion and enemy
170 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of all ungodly men. The prophet Zechariah (iii. 2),
telling of God rebuking Satan for opposing the High
Priest, shows that the Almighty succours those who
are tempted. Christ's words, " Get thee hence, Satan "
(Matt. iv. 10), indicate that man when weakest can
overcome Satan when strongest. All the miracles of
our Lord were mighty works against the Evil
Dominion. Judas is proof and example of Satan
dwelling in a wicked man (Luke xxii. 3). Ananias
and Sapphira are examples of the Evil One leading
human beings to sin against the Holy Ghost (Acts v.
3). We learn of a power which transforms evil to
seem good even as an angel of light (2 Cor. xi. 14).
There are depths of Satan, synagogues of Satan, and
deceivings which delude the whole world (Rev. ii. 24 ;
iii. 9 ; xii. 9). Satan is to be bound, loosed, and after
that shut up for ever (Rev. xx. 2, 7, 10). The Lord's
Prayer, as translated by the many and wise and good
men who revised the New Testament, means, " Deliver
us from the Evil One." It is far safer, wiser, better,
to be with Christ against Satan ; than with those
who are against Christ.
As a personal Devil, he was sacrificed unto (Deut.
xxxii. 17). He was cast out from men's bodies and
souls (Luke viii. 27-35). He caused diseases (Luke
xiii. 16), brought to pass many evils (Matt. xiii. 38,
39), was a seducing and lying spirit (i Thess. iii. S).
The Devil and devils believe and tremble (Jas. ii.
19). The Devil has the power of death (Heb. ii. 14).
Indeed, there seems to be no evil, whether as to man
and the world, that he is not wicked enough to aim
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF SATAN 171
at doing ; and no device, however false and malicious,
that he will not devise.
Satan is a spirit. He worketh in the children of
disobedience, and is the prince of the power of the
air (Eph. ii. 2). He is a prince of devils and
demons (Matt. xii. 24-28 ; xxv. 41 ; Rev. xii. 7-9).
We believe that when created in a rational and
spiritual nature, he was not only pure, but an arch-
angel, a prince of Heaven, in such dignity that
even after he fell, Michael, the archangel, brought
no railing accusation against him (Jude 9 ; Eph.
vi. 12).
The sheerest materialists who assert that we obtain
our notions of the beautiful, the sublime, and of the
evil, from physical impressions of pleasant things
and bad, must in time confess that intelligence is not
a mere mode of matter, the iridescence as of a soap-
bubble ; and that the spiritual is not solely the intel-
lectual, but more specially the moral ; and that the
spiritual world is not made up of our own intel-
lectual abstractions, physical sensations, and religious
emotions, but is that which all phenomena, good and
bad, represent. As these phenomena are rightly used
in due exercise of all our faculties, the cultivation of
reason, exercise of judgment as to right and wrong,
the doing of good, and the endeavour to attain
highest virtue, we prepare the way for a long life, a
happy and blessed old age, and the greater life to
come.
Remarkable statements in Ezekiel (xxviii. 1-19)
concerning the Prince of Tyrus (i-io), and the King
172 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
of Tyrus (12-19), throw light on our difficult subject.
The Prince of Tyrus, was Ittiobalus. Tyre stood
then on an island. What is declared had accom-
plishment in him, as a human being, and he was
destroyed for setting up his heart in supremacy
as were it the heart of God. This Prince was
also, in several respects, one of the various types of
Antichrist.
The King of Tyrus, another person (verses 12-19),
is so spoken of that he can only be taken as represen-
tative of Satan. The language is not applicable to
any human being.
" Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and
perfect in beauty" (verse 12). Thou measurest and
dost complete the sum of wisdom and beauty ; a
picture, a pattern, an embodiment.
" Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God "
(verse 13). Not only Adam's Eden, where thou
didst tempt him ; but that Eden where are the true
river and tree of life, the dwelling of glorious high
ones.
" Every precious stone was thy covering " (verse
13). Not as Adam, unclothed; but clothed upon
with a mansion, thine own — beautiful, precious,
splendid, as made of jewels and gold. In the day
thou wast created, instruments of music sounded
royally to welcome thee, thou king !
" Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth " (verse
14) ; — one of the consecrated ruling cherubs whom
I placed in dignity as representative yet veil of my
own splendour ; to be also the protector and coverer
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF SATAN 173
of those less than thyself, and to lead the worship of
the universe.
" Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ;
thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the
stones of fire " (verse 14). The mountain of God
is that exaltation where the throne, the visible
splendour of God shines in beauty. There thou
walkedst amidst the insignia of Godhead, beholding
the personal glories, spectacles of light, actual as
if to be touched, and possessed. So wonderful
wast thou.
" Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou
wast created, till iniquity was found in thee " (verse 1 5).
This iniquity, this falling, was, we think, before the
creation of the earth ; possibly before any physical
world, such as we now see, was made ; and the full
disastrous effect being foreseen, our redemption by
Christ was appointed (Eph. i. 4).
" By the multitude of thy merchandise they have
filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast
sinned" (verse 16), not only means the merchandise
of the king of Tyre, and the wealth and the violence
of antichrist ; but that Satan's excellency, high office,
privileges and powers, lifted him up with pride as
if all was his own ; as had his own arm brought
these things ; therefore, being cast down from his
splendour, he no more took high place on the
mountain of God ; nor was an honoured and a pro-
tecting cherub ; nor stood in the splendour of Divine
personal glory.
We are further told that, being'proud, he was abased ;
174 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
made a spectacle of shame ; his wisdom confounded ;
and all that was highly excellent, and blessed in him,
made to be foolishness. His traffic with angels and
with men for homage shall end in utter loss ; even
that casting down into the lake of fire which is
declared by St. John (Rev. xx. lo). Thus he who
was one of the Kings of Heaven, one of the Priests of
God, the fairest and wisest of all creatures in these
parts of the universe, was brought to shame, to con-
tempt, to punishment.
We deal with no mere matter of speculation. It is
that mystery of ungodliness, that personality of evil,
which causes whatever of darkness there is in the
world, whatever of pain, whatever of ruin. Our God
did not create a world merely mechanical, and men
as brute beasts. A grander, a more glorious work-
manship is the universe : order beyond order, rank
above rank, of spiritual existences in the heights and
depths, lengths and breadths of space. They are
being tried, and some are being strengthened and
purified as gold by fire. The will, the conscience,
the body and spirit of men, are also being perfected :
passing from the temporal to the eternal, from pain
to pleasure, from death unto life. We and our sin
are now as drops of falling rain darkening the sky of
God ; but Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, has come
to be our Saviour from Satan ; and soon His Divine
light will fill the universe ; and we, as that circle of
beauty spanning the horizon in the day of gentle
showers, shall be changed into a splendid encom-
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF SATAN. 175
passing of the throne of the universe, with all the
glory made visible, by Divine Illumination on the
Mount of God in Heavenly Places making all life
very grand.
" These are they who watch'd and waited,
Offering up to Christ their will,
Soul and body consecrated.
Day and night to serve Him still ;
Now in God's most holy place
Blest they stand before His Face."
Schenk^
XXII.
anstoer from ^eWb tfte Fetl— ®fte iPotoer of Sbatan.
** I could plunge into the bottom of Hell, if I were sure of finding
the Devil there, and getting him strangled. "—Thomas Carlyle,
Life of John Sterlings ch. ii.
**True Faith and Reason are the soul's two eyes ;
Faith evermore looks upward and descries
Objects remote ; but Reason can discover
Things only near — sees nothing that's above her. "
Francis Quarles.
EVEN the every-day world is full of romance.
Our very words, like Nature, half reveal and
half conceal the mysteries within. The strange drama
of the " Corsican Brothers " was suggested to the
elder Alexander Dumas by what Louis Blanc said
of the mysterious sympathy existing between him,
Louis, and his younger brother, Auguste. So closely
allied were they by this that, however widely
separated, one always knew when anything special
had happened to the other. Louis, in England, was
aware of the sudden illness of Auguste in France ;
and Auguste, in Spain, was conscious if danger beset
( 176 )
THE POWER OF SATAN. 177,
Louis in Italy. Impressions of this sort, repeated
continually, not only made pictures in the brain, but
were vividly flashed through space, as by telegraphy,
and becoming inmost revelations were always con-
firmed. This strange truth is not more remarkable
than the fact in science, well noticed thus —
" In many a figured leaf enrolls
The total world since life began. "
Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, xliii.
We know not how these things can be ; nor how
Satan directly, externally and internally, influences
our body and soul ; making dark the life within ;
but that in no way warrants unbelief; for even as to
things most natural, the life and growth of corn, and
its standing so beautiful and golden in the field, no
one knows the how. The influence of Satan differs
rather in degree than kind from that exercised by a
man ; though thoughts and desires can be injected
by the evil spirit apart from the medium of speech
and of any visible action (John xiii. 2). Those most
affected are the men who least of all acknowledge
that there is a devil. Deluded by a sophistical devil
to forget God, and to say, " There is neither hell
nor devil," their whole life testifies, " Satan, we are
thy true children."
It were well to realize that correct spiritual pre-
sentiment is not only a shadow, or a light, cast from
the past into the avenues of the future ; but a refraction
also of events ere they arise. Experiments furnish
presentiment, insight and foresight, by which men of
science predict diseases, mentally see the invisible —
N
178 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
say the ultimate atoms, and prophesy of things to
come in heaven and earth. These experiences
greatly partake of those high faculties by which spirit
breaks the bond that holds us from the touch and
sight of things in the greater world.
That strange power, or absence of power, made
known in the hypnotic state ; when persons are con-
trolled by others, made to sleep, to act, to suffer pain,
or be unconscious of pain ; brings into the natural
circle that which formerly was accounted supernatural ;
and is proof that evil influence, even as Divine
influence, may be acting upon us in such a manner
that we cannot separate that which is of ourselves
from that which is beyond ourselves.
Satan, as we are taught by the parable of the Sower,
takes away the Word of God from our heart and life
(Matt. xiii. 19-23) ; introduces wickedness to grow as
tares (Matt. xiii. 24-30) ; and hinders the Church in
her work of bringing men out of darkness into light,
and from deviltry unto God (i Cor. v. S ; I Tim. i. 20).
Gatherings of unbelievers are called synagogues of
Satan ; and those second births of death, the errors
of false doctrine, are " the depths of Satan " (Rev. ii.
9, 24 ; iii. 9). Satan sets his throne as prince of this
world (John xii. 31) ; and his power, a plain and awful
fact, can only be overcome by Christ and by those
who trust in Christ. Our life being darkened by sin
in the brain, Christ enters, and out of that darkness
brings the greater light and life ; even our sorrow is
touched with joy (Rom. xvi. 20 ; i Cor. ii. 9-1 1 ;
2 Thess. ii. 13 ; i Tim. v. 25). The progress of Satanic
THE POWER OF SATAN, 179
power in a man's heart and in the world is for a time
imperceptible, like the coming and lengthening of
night. Then he possesses men, with deadly hostility,
opposes Christ, darkens history with fables and
scandalous hypocrisies which obscure the all-including
immensities of an eternal future.
Satan's men are, as Thomas Carlyle called them,
"worthships and worships un worshipful.'"' Their
philanthropy is as the phosphorescence of meteoric
lights. Their vaunted liberty of thought and act is
of that revolutionary sort w^hich brings in the deeper,
harder bondage of physical and spiritual oppression :
full of " sordid misbeliefs, mispursuits, misresults," to
be trodden under foot shortly (Rom. xvi. 20 ; Gen.
iii. 12). Their knowledge is pretentious; not real,
of shrewd device to make sharp wit mend foul
feature, but delusive. As to the past, it is not the
clear insight of a good spirit ; but the haunting ghosts
of things defunct ; and, as to the future, spectral
illusions bring many fears, darken their dark graves,
destroy all good hope. They bear with them, ever
and ever, that body of death, the corrupt burden
of a life destroyed.
The work of Christ, in correction of all evil, gives
men, by the Spirit of God, a practical mastery of
themselves and of the world. They hold the reins of
life's chariot, direct the outlooking sensibilities, rule
the appetencies, with bright intelligence strong in
the love of truth. These are the men who overcome
all things, and find everywhere '* a higher height, a
deeper deep." They follow with an upward com-
i8o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
prehending grasp, the wonders and powers that have
come to them.
Satanic influence can only become effective by-
assent of man's will (Eph. iv. 27). The force of evil
habit, created by previous sin, and by successive acts,
rivetting it in the soul, is a force not so much acting
openly, as by craft entangling, and by dissimulation
deceiving. It lulls remorse to sleep, and by atheism
drugs to moral insensibility. There are wiles (Eph.
vi. 11), devices (2 Cor. ii. 11), snares (i Tim. iii. 7;
vi. 9 ; 2 Tim. ii. 26), so that we need to be sober and
vigilant (i Pet. v. 8) ; put on the whole armour of
God (Eph. vi. 10-17) ; and keep ourselves as those
born of God who are not to be touched by the wicked
one, but find in every loss a more than gain to match
(i John V. 18). We shall then discover the grand
secret, how that the greatest and most precious works
are elicited from nature's crudest productions, and
from Satan's most diabolical beguiling.
"Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop
Than when we soar."
W. Wordsworth,
Satan gives men a sort of cleverness, much tongue-
fence, they are great in talking eras ; show the
countenance of their own master, and at need his
own humours ; giving many reasons to justify their
service of the devil ; but means, as Goethe said, are
always at hand to prevent the " trees sweeping down
the stars." Their discourse flows not to any really
good earthly or heavenly thing ; but to boundless
bogs, and howling deserts of infidelity. They impose
THE POWER OF SATAN. l8l
upon Others, and at length impose upon themselves ;
and without ceasing to dupe their fellows, become
dupes to their own vain imaginations. Satan makes
men as fleshless bones without the colourings and
humanities of a God-made nature. He and his will
be overcome by every man in whom there is any
proper sense of the grand Eternal Powers. " Poor
outer, transitory grindings and discords," will and
must give place to that grand struggle, inwards,
onwards, upwards, in search of a diviner Home.
Which, as Robert Browning said, " Solves for thee
all questions in the world and out of it."
Satan acts through a host of evil spirits, who share
his evil work, and will partake of his doom (Matt.
XXV. 41). These evil spirits are not the same as those
fallen and imprisoned angels who are held in chains
of darkness until the judgment (2 Pet. \\. 4; Jude 6).
They go about in liberty, do all evil, and possess the
souls of greatly wicked men, making them more
wicked (Matt. xii. 24-26). The possessing spirits are
headed, so said the Jews, by Beelzebub (Matt. xii.
24-26). Our Lord has shown that Beelzebub is
Satan, and that the demons are his angels (Luke x. 18 ;
Acts X. 38).
Not the very greatest men, not those able to fight
and conquer are unbelievers as to Satan. Weak
men, for the most part, those whose interest it seems
that no Satan should exist, lest they have share in
his doom, speak loudly that neither devil nor demon
can be found. Men than whom no mortals can be
braver whose hearts withal are full of pity and love,
i82 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
whose minds are conscious of overcoming mysterious
adverse strengths, whose lives are of great mental,
emotional, and spiritual adventure, these are strongest
in the belief that space is occupied by spiritual
denizens both good and evil. Take but a single
example, Luther ; one of the most influencing,
adventurous, fearless workers the world has ever seen.
He was persuaded of the reality of Devils in the
city of Worms when he defied them. When he
started up with defiance in the castle of Wartburg,
and flung his inkstand at the fiend-spectre, he stood
face to face against the Prince of Hell. A man who
dares fearlessly to encounter the concentrated might
of the world's wickedness, who knows that devils are
busy about him, who sees and defies innumerable
devils, who fights with all his heart and mind against
them, knows not less from experience than from the
Word of God, that there are indeed dark hideous
infernal powers. We are on Luther's side in this
faith. With reverence, in bold language, we confess
that without one shadow of a doubt we are sure
that our blessed Redeemer did, again and again for
Himself and for us, vanquish the most awful and dire
and diabolical of all creatures, that the universe con-
tains, the Prince of Darkness, the author of spiritual
wickedness in high places, and of sorrow carrying
down to the lowest deeps.
This Satan and his angels are cast down from
heaven (Luke x. i8), a degradation preparatory for
their destruction. They are principalities and powers,
rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual masters
THE POWER OF SATAN, 183
of wickedness, and wrestlers against the souls of men
(Rom. viii. 38; Col. ii. 15). They fight on the side
of the Dragon, the old Serpent, the Devil and Satan,
against Michael and his angels (Rev. xii. 7-9). They
overcome men by atheism, by materialism, and by
making them think that there w^as no past nobleness,
from which our fathers fell ; nor is there any revelation
of a future bliss — eternal and divine.
Against this deviltry, the slow steady-pulling con-
tinuance of faith, the strenuous efforts with velocity
of stroke by just and memorable men, bring out a
fire even from the ashes ; gold from the ruins ; and
practical uses, good and true, from all evil and evils ;
build up the Church for the People and erect an altar
in every heart ; so that the light grows by inspiration
of the Almighty until the coming of perfect day,
when all transplanted human worth will bloom to
profit everywhere.
We are not discouraged at finding Satan to be
prince and possessor of this World, even god of it
(John xii. 31 ; xiv. 30; xvi. 11 ; 2 Cor. iv. 4, summed
in Eph. vi. 12). He claimed it, in tempting our Lord,
as his possession by delegated authority (Luke iv. 6).
The powers he exercises are exhibited in the case of
Job (i. 12, 15-19 ; ii. 5, 6), in the woman with a spirit
of infirmity (Luke xiii. 16), and St. Paul's thorn in
the flesh (2 Cor. xii. 7). They are powers exercised
sometimes through the hands of wicked men, children
of the devil who do the works of their father
(John viii. 44 ; Acts xiii. 10 ; i John iii. 8-10 ; John vi.
70). In this sense, all sins are the work of the Devil^
i84 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
and, being devilish, every little grief is the servant of
greater sorrows ; followed on by everlasting loss — " a
loss for ever new" (2 Cor. xi. 14, 15; Rev. ii. 10;
1 Thess. ii. 18 ; Rom. i. 32).
The method of action is further shown by the title
6 SmjSoXoc, the devil, a bond-breaker, a setter at
variance, and specially by slander (i Tim. iii. 11 ;
2 Tim. iii. 3 ; Titus ii. 3). He severs the bands of
union between God and man, the bands of truth and
purity between man and man, he slanders as to God
(Gen. ill. 4, 5), and slanders men to God (Job i. 9-11 ;
ii. 4, 5 ; I Pet. v. 8). He is our adversary and
accuser day and night (i Pet. v. 8 ; Zech. iii. i, 2 ;
Rev. xii. 10).
Satan acts on the heart by temptation and by
possession (J as. i. 2-4; i Chron. xxi. i) ; he leads his
victims to think that they can best climb the tree by
grasping the blossoms, not the branches ; but man's
will progresses to perfection by full and free exercise
in resisting those forms of sin, and by desiring and
agonizing to be as Christ ; and then delight in Christ,
stirs our spirit's inward depths, and man becomes a
greater man (Matt. iv. 3 ; i Thess. iii. 5 ; i Cor. x. 13 ;
Jas. iv. 7). Satan can act also against a sinless
nature : he tempted our Lord. Against a fallen
nature, which will rather have it so, he obtains more
power every time it is made the servant of sin
(John viii. 34; Rom. vi. 16). His victory establishes
a law of sin (Rom. vii. 14-24), so that men become
children of the devil and accursed (John viii. 44 ;
Acts xiii. 10; I John iii. 8-10; Matt. xxv. 41).
THE POWER OF SATAN, 185
The whole of this evil power in the world and in
man is broken for willing and faithful men by the
Atonement of Christ, and by gift of the Holy Ghost
(Gal. V. 17). The conflict, as to man, began in Eden.
The final victory and overthrow will soon be manifest,
and we shall regain a better Eden (Rev. xxii. 1-5).
The new heavens and earth, the glorifying of men
and of all things, will vindicate the power, the wisdom,
the goodness of God. The larger growth shall spring
to perfection, in glory past imagining of loveliest
symmetry. Take wings of thought : ascend where
all the stars of heaven and space below are sharpened
to a needle's point. Take wings of foresight : fly on
through all the ages yet to come. Thy wings shall
weary, thy sight be dim, thy thought and voice be
dumb, ere thou knowest the full meaning of sin, of
Satan, of the all-delivering, the glorious God ! Soon,
however, if thou abidest faithful, the track of all past
time shall be fore-shortened, the once-darkened days
be bright, God thy Saviour make sweet music ring
through all the spheres, and Love with Goodness be
everywhere at Home.
" And oh, if the exiles of earth could but win
The light of the beauty of Jesus above,
From that hour they would cease to be able to sin,
And earth would be heaven, for heaven is love."
Faber.
XXIII.
®i)£ Hoto Barfe Ftrge of Hift : possession bg
30£mons.
** It is very reasonable to believe, nay, it is very certain, that the
Devil hath not power over all persons alike, nor upon the same person
always equally ; but every one, as he is more or less under the conduct
of God's Spirit, and under the protection of His holy angels, so he
is less or more obnoxious to the snares of the Devil." — Dr. Johm
Sharp, Lord Archbishop of York, About the Devil and his Temptations,
POSSESSION of one person by another person,
of one thing by another, is a fact of general
experience. Force seems to possess all matter that is
in the world, takes, moulds, drives, as force wills.
Life assumes sway ; then Death comes, expels Life ;
and then Life renews Life in another form, but Death
again enters : there are possessions and repossessions.
Idleness, stupidity, love of Drink, other mad Passions
possess men and drive them to ruin. One of the
worst possessions is that by a Spirit of unbelief: it
tends to ungodliness, and that causes every sort of
evil.
Our Lord, the Saviour, uses language, as to the
actual possession of men by demons, which alike
( i86 )
POSSESSION BY DEMONS. 187
condemns those who see nothing natural in that
possession, and those who discern nothing but the
natural. Very often a substratum of physical disease,
and always some moral obliquity, inherited or ac-
quired, opens a door for the demon to enter. He
enters those who have forgotten God, and they are
those who forget themselves.
Man, by creation, is earth's noblest and most
excellent inhabitant. He is the principal and
mightiest work of God, the wonder of nature, a
marvel of marvels, an epitome of the universe. He
unites in himself, by way of representation, the matter
and force, the organism and life, the intelligence and
freedom, of the creature and the Creator.
This man, sovereign lord, forfeited his estate, by
vaulting ambition o'erleaping itself and falling on
the other side, became a degraded castaway, and so
obscured himself as to be in some respects more like
a dog, a hog, or a fox, than a living image in holiness
of the immortal God. No words can tell what that
loss is to the lost. The great thing now to be done,
by Christ through the Church, is the restoration of
man to the original integrity.
The privation of so much Divine honour, and the
bringing in of much abasement, were through yielding
to Satan's inducement and allurement : whence pro-
ceeded all those bad inclinations and actual trans-
gressions which make life so fearful a tragedy.
Ancient poets set this forth in the fiction of Pandora's
box, the opening of which by her curiosity filled the
world with evils. Prophets proclaimed the transgres-
i88 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
sion as that surrender of man and woman to Satan,
by which came their physical maladies, mental
diseases, present and future death. Christ taught
that the baseness, the stupidity, the injustice, the
sufferings, the wreck, this world everywhere presents,
are a challenge to strength, to diligence, to endurance,
to faith, to all sublime and manly qualities. Labour,
that you may learn. Believe, and you shall see that
you are rescued from the Day of Wrath.
** The smiting, the smiting of that day !
The horror, the splendour, who shall say ?
The Day, when none shall answer for his brother ;
The Day, which is with God, and with none other.*'
Sir Edwin Arnold^ Pearls of the Faith.
The Devil, or Satan, is never called demon ; and
evil spirits never have his title. They are demons,
impure spirits ; and men, possessed by them, are
being led to destruction. In consequence, we men
are not rounded and complete in ourselves, but in
living relation to two worlds : a higher, from which
all good comes ; and a lower, from which all evil.
The grand distinction is Good and Evil : thou shalt
do good, thou shalt not do evil. Evil grows like a
Banyan-tree, it strikes down into the ground with its
roots ; and bends to the earth with its branches,
which take new root, and goes on for ever ; but the
whole is from one seed, and so all the wickedness in
man is the dark portraiture of Satan's likeness. Sir
Walter Scott said, **The aim is to do the devil's
business without mention of his copartnery in the
firm." The tendency is to produce a being like Satan,
POSSESSION BY DEMONS, 189
to turn our individuality into his sinful double. The
words are — "Cheer up, sir! take the joys of blithe-
some company." The act is — a taking of man into
"the mists of melancholy, and the land of little
ease." At present in every man's individuality is
a boundless possibility. As to a new untried soul,
with duties, obligations, and Divine help, none can
predict whether it will become divine or satanic.
We know, however, that there is a way of escape, or
power to conquer, in every temptation ; and no one
is lost in a moment. Death only stamps what has
been a fact all along. Though every man stands
alone, as did Jesus, yet he is not utterly alone. In
the inmost and deepest deeps of our being, God is
with us. He is our Father. To deprive men of that
Heavenly presence, to make sure of them even now
before the Judgment Day, Satan whenever he can
sends a spirit, or spirits, to take possession of them.
There are three modern theories as to Possession.
I. Possession by demons is only a figure and
symbol of the power of evil in the world. We do
not accept this. This theory sets at nought the calm
and deliberate statements of our Lord, and would
empty those marvellous acts which drove out evil
spirits, of all their wonderful meaning. Those state-
ments and those acts, said and done by Him who
cannot lie, are proof of the dire realities against which
they were directed. Doubtless evil men, who delight
in evil, are exposed to many dark forces which come
from the unknown ocean that rolls round all the
worlds.
I90 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
2. Our Lord spoke only in accordance with the
prevalent Jewish belief, without reference to its truth
or falsity. This cannot be believed. He was not
one who pandered to a lie. He came to free us from
it. The having a demon was spoken of sometimes as
being mad (John vii. 20 ; viii. 48 ; x. 20) ; but the
madness was in company with a greater evil. Dumb-
ness (Matt. ix. 32), blindness (Matt. xii. 22), epilepsy
(Mark ix. 17-27), insanity (Matt. viii. 28; Mark v.
I -5), were not the only evils which afflicted the
possessed. We talk of madness, as lunacy ; but what
physician addresses the moon ; yet our Lord did
address the demons, commanded them to go, and
they went ; the demons spoke, and the demons
obeyed. They acknowledged our Lord, as Son of
God (Matt. viii. 29 ; Mark i. 24 ; v. 7 ; Luke iv. 41).
He not only spoke to the multitude concerning
demons. He instructed the Apostles how to cast them
out (Matt. xvii. 21), and the action of demons on the
herd of swine at Gadara is proof of actual personal
possession (Mark v. 10-14). Whether a fact is God
announcing, or speaks of devils, or of demons pos-
sessing, to know the real truth is always the noblest art.
3. The literal and ordinary interpretation by
Christians must be undoubtedly accepted : there are
demons, subjects of Satan, who before, specially in
the days of our Lord, and since then, who were
and are permitted to exercise manifold influence, to
possess the bodies and souls of individuals. Posses-
sion is not a mere semblance, but a reality, as Heaven
and Hell are realities.
POSSESSION BY DEMONS. 191
Possession is not the same as temptation. It is a
spiritual wicked miracle in contradistinction to
sacred miracle. The distinguishing feature of this
possession is mastery by the Evil One over human
will and thought, mind and body (Mark i. 24 ; v. 7 ;
ix. 17, 18). Where human personality is not de-
stroyed by the possession, there remains conscious-
ness of a twofold will ; will carrying the victim into
regions of realities which are not wholly beyond the
scope of physical science and mental investigation.
It is in physical and spiritual relation to the evil
influence of bad men on other men. It is greater in
degree, but similar in kind, to that exercised on those
temperaments which can be subjected to mesmeric
or hypnotic power. It causes a deadness as to some
vital and mental faculties, and great activity in others.
The subjugation to foreign influence being the one
great factor.^
^ The Standard of April 7, 1890, stated how such influence may
by superior wisdom be used for good.
** A number of the leading medical men and dentists of Leeds and
district were brought together on March 28, to witness a series of
surgical and dental operations performed under the hypnotic influence
induced by Dr. Milne Bramwell, of Goole, Yorkshire.
**The first case brought was a woman of twenty-five. She was
hypnotized at a word by Dr. Bramwell, and told she was to submit to
three teeth being extracted without pain at the hands of Mr. T. Carter,
and further that she was to do anything that Mr. Carter asked her to
do (such as to open her mouth and spit out, and the like) as he required
her. This was perfectly successful. There was no expression of pain
in the face, no cry, and when told to awake she said she had not the
least pain in the gums, nor had she felt the operation. Dr. Bramwell
then hypnotized her, and ordered her to leave the room and go upstairs
to the waiting-room. This she did as a complete somnambulist.
** The next case was that of a servant girl, aged nineteen, on whom.
192 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Men, possessed, are not merely nor always great
sufferers ; not mere examples of that woe which Satan
under the hypnotic influence induced by Dr. Bramwell, a large lachrymal
abscess, extending into the cheek, had a fortnight previously been opened
and scraped freely, without knowledge or pain. Furthermore, the
dressing had been daily performed and the cavity freely syringed out
under hypnotic anaesthesia, the * Healing Suggestions ' being daily
given to the patient, to which Dr. Bramwell in a great measure attributes
the very rapid healing, which took place in ten days — a remarkably short
space of time in a girl in a by no means good state of health. She was
put to sleep by the following letter from Dr. Bramwell, addressed to
Mr. Turner, the operating dentist in the case : —
** [Copy.]
" * Burlington Crescent, Goole, Yorks.
*' 'Dear Mr. Turner, — I send you a patient with enclosed order.
When you give it her, she will fall asleep at once and obey your
commands.
"(Signed) *J. Milne Bramwell.'
"[Copy.]
" ' Go to sleep by order of Dr. Bramwell, and obey Mr. Turner's
commands.
"*J. Milne Bramwell.*
" This experiment answered perfectly. Sleep was induced at once
by reading the note, and was so profound that at the end of a lengthy
operation, she awoke smiling, and insisted that she had felt no pain ;
and, what was remarkable, there was no pain in her mouth. $he was
found after some time, when unobserved, reading the Graphic in the
waiting-room as if nothing had happened. During the whole time she
did everything which Mr. Turner suggested, but it was observed that
there was a diminished flow of saliva, and that the corneal reflexes
were absent ; the breathing was more noisy than ordinary, and the
pulse slower.
" Dr. Bramwell took occasion to explain that the next case, a
boy of eight, was a severe test, and would not probably succeed ;
partly because the patient was so young, and chiefly because he had
not attempted to produce hypnotic anaesthesia earlier than two days
before. He also explained that patients require training in this form
of anaesthesia, the time of training or preparation varying with each
POSSESSION BY DEMONS. 193
brought upon our race through sin which is common
to all ; not merely signal sinners as those servants of
the Devil who with head and heart do his will. There
is a strange blending of the physical and the spiritual,
of disorder and disorganization, the barriers between
the lower and the higher life are broken down. The
possessed person is one singled out by the dark hosts
of evil for their immediate prey.
He is not, necessarily, one of the worst men ; nor
the most guilty ; but, probably, he has brought him-
self more specially into the domain of evil. There
are historical characters, eminent representatives and
servants of Satan, false prophets and antichrists, who
are never spoken of as demoniacs. Dante, that
sorrowful but splendid genius, could never be thought
of as possessed ; yet he was so marked with misery
individual. However, he was so far hypnotized that he allowed Mr.
Mayo Robson to operate on the great toe, removing a bony growth
and part of the first phalange with no more than a few cries towards
the close of the operation, and with the result that when questioned
afterwards, he appeared to know very little of what had been done.
It was necessary in his case for Dr. Bramwell to repeat the hypnotic
suggestions. Dr. Bramwell remarked that he wished to show a case
that was less likely to be perfectly successful than the others, so as to
enable those present to see the difficult as well as the apparently easy,
straightforward cases.
" The next case was a girl of fifteen, highly sensitive, requiring the
removal of enlarged tonsils. At the request of Dr. Bramwell, Mr.
Bendelack Hewetson was enabled, whilst the patient was in the
hypnotic state, to extract each tonsil with ease, the girl by the suggestion
of the hypnotizer, obeying every request of the operator, though in a
state of perfect anaesthesia. In the same way Mr. Hewetson removed
a cyst of the size of a horsebean from the side of the nose of a young
woman who was perfectly anaesthetic, breathing deeply, and who, on
coming round by order, protested * that the operation had not been
commenced.'"
O
194 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
that the people of Verona when they saw him in the
street said, " See, there is the man that was in Hell ! "
Inordinately wicked men who delight in wicked-
ness, in sensual lusts ; and those who not less delight
in spiritual evil ; the serpent's brood, the devil's
generation, not so much tempted by the devil as
tempters of the devil himself; these are not demoniacs,
though of all men most guilty. Judas, whom Satan
entered, was not a demoniac ; nor was Ahab, nor
Pharaoh, nor Herod.
Noble Orestes, whom, the Greek poet relates, the
" dogs of hell " tortured into madness ; and in some
moments of his life, Hamlet ; are rightly mentioned
by Archbishop Trench as examples of possessed
men.^
Demoniacs are more or less conscious of inward
discord confusing their sense of right and wrong, so
that they cannot rightly handle daily affairs — physical,
or mental, or moral ; whom a diabolical tyranny
has subjected, and carries further and further from
sanctity ; these are the possessed of devils. Another
will than their own rules them ; and they are unable
to release themselves. They are not as those in whom
the serpent and the man are so blended as to be one ;
not as those in whom the devil and the sinner form
one inhuman nature. The twining is not an utter
confusion, it is a bondage ; and the sinner has not so
agreed with the devil that there is only one will.
The sinner feels overshadowed, contradicted, re-
^ '* Notes on the Miracles of our Lord." See the Demoniacs in the
Country of the Gadarenes.
POSSESSION BY DEMONS. 195
Strained, domineered over ; possessed by that which
makes his inner and outer life vast contradictions to
the true purpose of his existence.
Such possessions have not wholly disappeared from
the world. They are not explained away by advanced
medical science. They are not unusual cases of
insanity. They display physical evil, mental evil,
spiritual evil, which exceeds every form that medical
skill has attained knowledge of. Very likely, could
we discern as the Apostles discerned, we should
detect demons in some men who think very highly of
themselves. They are few in comparison with the
many who confronted our Lord. That time was one
of exceeding sensuality, into which men ran as a
refuge from despairing thoughts. It was the hour
and power of darkness. As some physical maladies
predominate in certain circumstances, and are very
direful ; mental and spiritual disorders belong to
some epochs of the world's history.
The following narrative, taken from a daily paper, of
" A Double Existence," with reference to a murderess,
brings these mysterious facts within our own time
and experience : —
"The conduct of Gabrielle Bompard since her
arrest, and the knowledge of the circumstances under
which the m>urder of M. Gouffe was perpetrated, have
given rise to a very interesting discussion as to the
possibility of any one exercising such an influence
over another person as to make him or her irrespon-
sible for the acts committed under that influence,
even though those acts may be crimes. Though it is
196 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
an ascertained fact that Gabrielle Bompard is a good
hypnotic 'subject,' almost all the most eminent
specialists who have expressed their opinion on the
matter have declared she must be regarded as per-
fectly responsible for her participation in the crime
she confessed. Nevertheless, it has been pointed out
that it is perhaps possible a person may be so
thoroughly under the influence of another as to
mechanically obey his dictates, even without being
thrown into hypnotic sleep.
" In support of the theory that, under certain cir-
cumstances, a person apparently in possession of all
his mental faculties may not be responsible for his
acts, it is interesting to note a case recently observed
by M. A. Proust, Inspector-General of the Sanitary
Service, and which is a veritable example of double
existence. M. Emile X is thirty years of age,
the son of a gentleman who may be called eccentric
and addicted to drink. His mother is a neuropathic
subject. His only brother is unintelligent. Emile
received a good education ; and, though rather dull
as a boy, was successful at the competitive examina-
tions of public schools. He studied medicine for
several months, and then, abandoning it for law,
obtained his degree of barrister. He is affected with
serious hysteria, which manifests itself in him by
unconsciousness, disturbance of sensibility, and
temporary paralysis of the limbs. If only he looks
fixedly at anything, or hears a sudden violent noise,
or experiences any strong and sudden emotion, he
falls into a hypnotic sleep. One day at a caf^^ look-
POSSESSION BY DEMONS. 197
ing at a mirror, he fell into this condition. His
astonished companions took him to the Charite
Hospital, where he was restored to consciousness.
"On another occasion, when pleading in a Law
Court, and looking fixedly at the presiding judge, he
stopped short and could not resume his pleading till
one of his fellow-barristers, who knew his infirmity,
woke him from his trance. Sometimes he suddenly
loses his memory, entirely forgetting his previous
existence. In this new life which thus begins for
him, and which has on some occasions lasted several
days, he is perfectly conscious of the acts he has
accomplished during this second existence. He is, so
to say, quite a distinct person from his previous self.
He walks about, travels by railway, stays at hotels,
eats, sleeps, pays visits, buys, gambles, etc. When
restored to his first condition he is entirely ignorant
of what took place during the days just passed, when
he was in his second condition. After a violent
dispute with his father-in-law, of which he has a per-
fectly clear recollection, and which took place on the
23rd of September, 1888, he is unconscious of what he
did till the middle of October, when he found himself
at Villars, in the Haute Marne. He then learned
that he had been to the parish priest of Villars, who
found his conversation rather odd ; that he had
visited an uncle of his who lived in the neighbour-
hood, and that there he had broken many things, torn
up books and manuscripts, contracted a debt of five
hundred francs, and had been charged with swindling
before the Correctional Court at Vassy, and been
198 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
condemned by default As another example of his
double existence, I may mention that on the 1 7th of
May, 1889, he left a restaurant in the Latin Quarter
of Paris, where he had breakfasted, and two days
later found himself at Troyes. He had no idea of
what he had done in the interval. On returning home
he perceived he had lost his great coat and a purse
containing two hundred and twenty-six francs. Being
put into a mesmeric sleep, he was able to indicate
where he had left his property.
" It would, perhaps, be going too far to conclude
from the above example that there are many people
in the world who may be considered irresponsible for
their acts under certain circumstances ; but it would,
nevertheless, tend to provfe it is possible that some
such persons may exist." ^
These disorders, whether physical or spiritual, root
themselves in the human temperaments of some
historic ages ; and, having attained rare intensity,
give place after an interval to other manifestations.
Many fall under Satanic influence both as to soul and
body, only to be detected by our possessing the
apostolic discernment of spirits. They are not all in
our madhouses, to whom Paul would say, " O full of
all subtilty and all mischief, ye children of the devil,
enemies of all righteousness" (Acts xiii. 8-1 1).
Jesus, who showed Himself the pacifier of tumults
and discords, who spoke peace to the winds and the
waves, controls that fiercer and wilder war of evil
* From the Paris correspondent of the Standard^ March 13, 1890 :
*' A Double Existence."
POSSESSION BY DEMONS, 199
Spirits against human souls. As Prince of Peace He
brings back the lost harmony and establishes it for
ever. We are as men, some of us, among tombs, in the
terribleness of grinding, gnashing, despairing poverty.
We are exposed to the cold-blooded selfishness, god-
lessness, of those who, themselves Devil's slaves, urge
the poor and miserable to curse God and man, and
to aggravate the terribleness of this condition by
railing against dignities, rebelling against authorities,
and giving themselves up to work riotousness and
uncleanness with greediness. There are men who
profess to be Christians without Christ ; to believe
without Creeds ; to be godly without the forms and
doctrines of godliness. Their name is " legion,'' they
are many ; and want to be lords many ; they say,
'' Who shall rule over us ? " Like demons, some of
them, they would demonize the multitude ; and then
all would be carried, as the swine of old impelled by
foul spirits, down steep places into the deep of
destruction.
This working of evil spirit and spirits on the
physical life is being overruled for good by the great
work of Christ, the faith of the Church, and the
victories achieved by every believer. The boundaries
between the two worlds of good and evil, will not
continue to be broken down if men are true to them-
selves and to their brethren. We shall see the lower
world subjected to the higher world in a wonderful
manner. As savage races succumb to the civilized, as
matter obeys mind, as beast submits to man, so shall
the powers of Hell yield to those of Heaven. Let
2O0 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
the certainty of this preserve the sacred temperament
of your own soul, the reasonableness of your own
faith, the common-sense of your own behaviour, the
thankfulness of your own heart, the intelligent devout-
ness of your own mind, so shall you accomplish the
great life and high service unto which you are called.
Resisting the Devil, he will flee from you ; and if the
Lord come not, whether to us as individuals or to our
nation, when we expect ; we shall go to Him, be at
Home where is no sin, nor any sorrow.
** Be not as those who have forgotten Him,
For they are those who have forgotten themselves ;
They are the evil-doers ; not for such,
And for the heritors of Paradise,
Shall it be equal ; Paradise is kept
For those thrice blessed who have ears to hear. "
Sir Edwin Arnold^ Pearls of the Faith.
Fable.
One night St. Anthony, sitting in his cell, heard a
knocking at his door. Opening it, he found a man,
majestic and terrible, who said, " I, Satan, come to
ask thee how it is that thou and others like thee
whenever ye stray into sin, or fall into evil, lay the
blame and shame on me?" Anthony answered,
" Have we not cause ? Dost thou not go about
tempting, tormenting, devouring ? wast thou not the
first tempter causing the Fall of angels and men t "
The Evil One replied, " It is false ; men allure one
another to sin, torment and oppress one another, go
about seeking opportunities to sin, and then weakly
charge it on me. Since God came upon earth and
POSSESSION BY DEMONS. 201
redeemed men, I have no prevailing weapons, no
dwelling-place here, want everything and can do
nothing, unless men lay themselves open to me ; the
fault and guilt are theirs.'* " In this," returned
Anthony, " thou speakest as a very devil ; for hast
thou not caused all this, art thou not the father of
lies, a murderer from the beginning, and the cause of
all evil ? I charge it on thee in the name of Christ."
At the name of Christ Satan vanished with a loud
cry. It were well if we all remembered that as all
good things are done by the help of God, and all
right thinking and speaking are by holy inspiration ;
so bad things were by the evil spirit, in Saul, the
king ; lying, in Ananias and Sapphira ; betraying
Jesus by Judas ; all are fruits of the Evil Spirit, even
as all lusts of the flesh are works of the Devil.
XXIV.
^rocuras to tfit Horbs of |^dl: IBnnons.
"This world of ours stands not isolated, not rounded and complete
in itself, but in living relation with two worlds — a higher, from which
all good proceeds— and this lower, from which all evil." — Richard
Chenevix Trench, Archbishop of Dublin, The Miracles of our Lord,
p. 156.
** Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep."
John Milton.
THE word "Demon" is of uncertain derivation.
It may be from SaT/fiwv, intelligent ; or from
^^aih}^ to divide. Demons are crafty ; and they
separate man^s thoughts and affections from God.
In the Greek Classics, when the gods are only
supernatural men, the word interchanges with Otoe,
God. Later on, where the gods are regarded as
sublime beings, less familiar with men, and more
exalted, demons are thought to be intermediate
beings, neither human nor divine, but messengers of
the gods to men. Sometimes, these spiritual natures
meant the spirits of good men ; sometimes, they were
regarded, by Socrates for example, as those who
( 202 )
PROCURERS TO THE LORDS OF HELL, 203
watched over good and great human beings. After-
wards, the spirits of dead wicked men were counted
demons, who, continuing in wickedness, furthered not
only physical but moral evil. In the Septuagint,
the Greek Translation of the Old Testament, the
Hebrew words for idols, pestilences, destroying evils,
are usually translated demons. Josephus always used
the word to mean evil spirits ; and Philo, for angels —
good and bad.
It is easier to say what Demons are not, than what
they are. The Sadducees denied that any such
spirits exist ; but their unbelief was rebuked by our
Lord. Some of the Talmudists fabled that Adam
had a wife called Lilis, before he married Eve, and
all born of her were demons. Holy Scripture puts
away this folly, telling us that Satan, an angel of light
and placed in Heaven, fell through pride (Ezek.
xxviii. 14, 15 ; 2 Pet. ii. 4). He, and the angels who
transgressed with him, became of grosser substance.
So taught Origen, Tertullian, Lactantius, and other
ancient fathers. These devils, or evil ones, make the
crooked lines and dark places in the Bible, by lead-
ing good men into those sins which cast gloom upon
human truth and holiness ; so that some of us are
led to think and act regardless of Scripture ; to act
as were men not men, but demons.
There were two falls of spiritual beings, Justin
Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Sulpitius Severus,
Eusebius, and others declare. One, before the
beginning of the material worlds ; another, a little
precedent to the Flood (Gen. vi. 2, 4). It is con-
204 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
sidered by some, that these latter are those of whom
St. Jude (verse 6) declares that not keeping their first
estate, they are imprisoned in everlasting chains,
under darkness, until the Judgment of the great day.
Those thus imprisoned, whether belonging to the
transgressions which brought the Flood, or to the fall
which preceded the physical creation, cannot be the
evil ones who now go about seeking to destroy, nor
the demons possessing men. Satan and the evil
spirits acting with him, are certainly not shut up, but
are allowed to act as scavengers to nature and man,
in taking away dross and refuse from physical pro-
cesses ; and in carrying off those worthless men, into
another place for other uses, who abuse their God-
given freedom and will not allow themselves to be
amended.
We thus learn there are two sorts of powers in
nature and in men : the supernatural and the natural.
The natural powers are investigated by our physical
sciences, and we detect everywhere good leading to
more good ; resisted on every side by that which
makes for evil and more evil. The supernatural are
those operations of God by which He creates, main-
tains, develops ; and those evil disturbing influences
of which nature is full, and we all know of as the evil
that is present with us even when we would do good.
The School-men said there are nine sorts of devils,
or bad spirits : — I. Those who caused themselves to
be worshipped — the heathen gods. 2. Those who
caused lies, and every sort of falseness. 3. Those
who excited mad passions, making men vessels of
PROCURERS TO THE LORDS OF HELL. 205
fury. 4. Those that originated hatefulness and
hatred, revengefulness and revenge. 5. Those that
made men and women to be wizards and witches.
6. Those that corrupt the air, raising storms, pestilences,
conflagrations. 7. Causers of wars, of destructions,
of tumults. 8. Accusers, calumniators, drivers of men
to despair, to suicide. 9. Those tempters to greedi-
ness, covetousness, and inordinate love of money, so
that men worship mammon. The air is not so full
of flies in summer, as at all times of invisible spirits.
Probably these School-men meant that as human
beings act according to their inclinations, abilities,
circumstances ; so do evil spirits work those foul and
noxious proceedings which most accord with their
own lusts. We so far agree with them as to think
that every evil in man and nature is a manifestation
of some invisible and more deadly thing. Physicians
know that the outward forms of all diseases are not
the realities of disease, but the hideous painful cloth-
ing which they assume. Did we see with a spiritual
eye we might behold a dark spirit at the right hand
of every wicked man. It is strictly in proportion as
we reverence and love the Ruler of heaven and
earth " that we are nearest, or furthest, from the con-
dition of the blessed."
We have a sure and reliable guide in the New
Testament. The Gospels, generally, St. James {\\, 19),
and Revelation (xvi. 14), state that demons are
spiritual beings at enmity with God, and that they
have power to afflict men. They are spirits possessing
men (Acts xix. 12, 13). They believe in the power
2o6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
of God and tremble (Jas. ii. 19). They recognize that
our Lord is the Son of God (Matt. viii. 29 ; Luke
iv. 41), were subject to the power of His Name when
it was used in exorcism (Acts xix. 15), and were in
fear of the Judgment to come (Matt. viii. 29). Their
powers are similar, in many respects, to those possessed
by the Angels of God.
The Jews generally believed that the spirits of
wicked men were either demons, or numbered with
demons. Demoniacs, persons possessed by demons,
sometimes, as places fit for them, haunted tombs
(Matt. viii. 28). The Gentiles worshipped demons
(l Tim. iv. I ; Rev. xix. 20; Deut. xxxii. 17 ; Acts
xvl 16; xvii. 18). They were nothings, that is no
real gods, but prevailing by devilish influence in all
idolatry (i Cor. x, 19, 20). Satan is identified as
Beelzebub (Matt xii. 24-30; Mark iii. 22-30 ; Luke
xi. 14-26) ; and a similar connection is shown in the
Book of Revelation (xvi. 14).
We conclude that demons are agents in Satan's
work, are to be regarded as those whom he led into
rebellion, are subjects of the kingdom of darkness,
and are doomed to condemnation. They are those
who, in some precedent world, abused a great and
wonderful freedom. If you say, *' Why did not God
make angels and men in such a way that sin should
be impossible and evil have no existence ? " we
answer, "If intelligent beings are really free, they
must be able to choose between good and evil." God
chose to make them free, and we are so certain of
His power, wisdom, goodness, as to be sure that all
PROCURERS TO THE LORDS OF HELL, 207
darkness will be lit up with a very exceeding
splendour. To bolster unfaith by asserting that
natural science nowhere detects any spiritual in-
fluence, does not banish the evil. The powers to
apprehend all that we see and all that surrounds us
have been given by the Creator ; but only as we
rightly use them, and as we obtain knowledge, step by
step, mingle with it faith and love and obedience, shall
we grow in the holiness that leads to true happiness.
History shows that a man's self-control, apart from
Divine control, leads to scepticism, sensuality, ruin.
Men of the greatest science and intelligence are
assured by many proofs that everything in the world,
bad or good, represents something which is beyond
the world. There is not a human being who does
not daily come in contact with that which is beyond
full understanding as are the Trinity, Redemption,
and the existence of Satan ; yet he acquiesces in these
mysteries because they are common ; and forgets
those which, rightly viewed, make all others intel-
ligible. Did we unfeignedly seek the unseen but
omnipresent influence of the Holy Spirit, God would
lead us into all truth. All that we see, hear, touch, is
a visible, audible, tangible appearance of something
beyond our physical senses. Why should we doubt ?
All material things can be dissolved, made invisible,
scattered, by processes well known ; but we are not
able, with our present powers, to bring all these back
from the unseen ; nor can we tell the essence of
anything, either seen or unseen ; yet we know
sufficiently well to say, " The bad and the good have
2o8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
their counterparts somewhere else, that we are sure
of." Our Physicians know that every disease is the
evil mark of an invisible force. They find that many,
if not all, our diseases are produced by little living
things, and true analogy leads to the fact that all life
comes from the living, hence good and evil are from
living powers.
If physical science discerns no traces of the super-
natural, what of that ? It does not discover why or
how our thought controls our body ; or why or how
our senses, by means of organic function, have their
peculiar sensations. There is an abyss between
thought and matter, between sensation and our
organs, which physical science is unable to bridge.
The very darkness, in which all such science ends,
does not deny ; but, rather, affirms the supernatural.
The Rev. G. V. Garland (" The Practical Teaching of
the Apocalypse," pp. 5, 6) gives a practical view —
" The Apocalypse is a prophetic revelation of a
warfare waged between Michael and his angels and
the Dragon and his angels. Michael ... is the
emblem of perfected Humanity in the person of the
Glorified Son of Man ; and the Dragon, that of
debased Humanity, in the person of the degraded
Serpent. . . . The warfare is pursued through the
confederated Angelic armies of these two leaders in
the Heaven and their correlative Organizations on
Earth. The Satanic Organization consists of the
Beast, the Harlot, and the False Prophet ; and the
Divine Organization consists of the Lamb, the Woman,
and the Two Witnesses."
PROCURERS TO THE LORDS OF HELL, 209
The earth, and all the stars, and whatsoever is in
them, represent unseen wonders which surpass our
every thought. We men, having begun life in lowly
circumstances, are like those travellers who toil through
rugged glens and dark mountain gorges to a grand
ascent very wonderful. We, like St. John in Patmos,
ascending, shall see the Throne of God, of the Lamb,
greatly splendid ; and in the light and sight find a
life going on and on, ever and ever, more and more
beautiful. Unto all this, our experiences are the
Highway of Intelligence, and we bear a rich cargo
of untold treasure.
* * O God ! my spirit loves but Thee :
Not that in heaven its home may be,
Nor that the souls which love not Thee
Shall groan in fire eternally.
" But Thou on the accursed tree
In mercy hast embraced me,
For me the cruel nails, the spear,
The ignominious scoff, didst bear ;
Countless unutterable woes —
The bloody sweat, death's pangs and throes —
These Thou didst bear, all these for me,
A sinner and estranged from Thee.
" And wherefore no affection show,
Jesus, to Thee that lov'st me so ?
Not that in heaven my home may be,
Nor lest I die eternally,
Nor from the hopes of joys above me.
But even as Thou Thyself didst love me,
So love I, and will ever love. Thee,
Solely because my King art Thou,
My God for evermore as now. Amen."
Longfellow's Translation of SU Francis Xavier's Hymn,
XXV.
**The unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth
through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. Then he
saith, I will return into my house whence I came out ; and when he is
come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and
taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and
they enter in and dwell there : and the last state of that man becometh
worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this generation." —
Matt. xii. 43-45 (Revised Version).
MIRACLES and every kind of supernatural
events and persons are counted highly im-
probable ; but for the Evangelical miracles there is
that concurrence of evidence which enforces their
acceptance. Belief has fewer difficulties than un-
belief. As for demons, devils, evil spirits, in tempting
our Lord Himself, in being cast out by Him, in His
healing those possessed by them, their existence must
be regarded as a genuine fact.
Christ, apart from His Divinity, was not only
peculiarly holy, of perfect confidence in God, of un-
rivalled simplicity, and without ambition ; but con-
joined with true humility was a sense of dignity, He
( 210 )
THE MAN POSSESSED BY SEVEN DEVILS. 211
systematically described Himself as King ; and if we
add His unswerving truthfulness in union with mental
and moral power beyond any man the world has ever
seen ; we are enforced to believe the existence of
devils who oppose God and w^ould destroy man.
Faith is enforced, because the facts of Christ's
Temptation, by Satan in person, could not have been
known by other men had they not been declared by
Christ Himself The record of these evil ones and of
the Temptation, is a statement of facts, apart from
imagination, without those ghastly horrors which so
fascinate yet terrify our imagination, that we think of
no antecedent improbability. We feel that we are in
the presence of truth, of things, inimitably probable,
grandly wrought by Him whose every work was
elevating and beneficial.
The narrative of the unclean spirit leaving a man,
not finding rest, returning, and taking to himself
seven other spirits, so that the latter end of the man
is worse than the beginning, should not be taken
simply as a parable. It is, rather, a real fact. The
casting out of a devil from a demoniac, and the
aggravated return of that devil, accounting for and
explaining a moral and physical ruin, such as befell
the Jewish People, after their rejection of Christ : the
people were the evil generation, the great demoniac.
Dr. Whitby says this should be taken as our Lord's
meaning : " Satan, cast out by Me and My disciples,
finding nowhere else such pleasant desirable habita-
tions, or persons so fitted to receive him again, as
you of this nation are, shall come back to you ; and
212 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
finding that Christ, whose doctrine shall be enter-
tained by the heathens, hath found no admission
among you, shall take a more durable possession of
you, and render you seven times more the children
of Satan than you were before."
The miserable condition of a man who rejects
Christ is also stated. In every wicked man the devil
has a sort of palace and puts all the man has to evil
uses. The devil also keeps the evil heart as a fort,
and garnishes it as a stronghold, whence much
wrongdoing may go and work great mischief. Christ,
driving out Satan, takes possession of the hearts
goods and puts them to right use. " There is a vast
difference in the devil's going out by compact, and
his being cast out by compulsion." Those from
whom Christ casts him are free for ever. Into those
from whom Satan goes by feint, or artifice, under a
man's own false pretence of improvement, or for sake
of profit and appearance, he will return. A hypocrite
sweeping his heart and life from scandalous things,
from the filth that lies open to the eye of the world,
has leprosy still in the walls ; and where sin's secret
haunts are maintained under the cloak of a visible
profession, that state is a more deadly apostasy than
the former, and the soul is sevenfold more a prey to
the Destroyer. The relapse is worse than the original
disease. The evil only in part restrained, like water
imperfectly dammed, bursts out with a more destruc-
tive flood.
The expelled spirit wanders in dry, or waterless
places without habitations, such being his chosen
THE MAN POSSESSED BY SEVEN DEVILS. 213
resort. He delights to overthrow glory and make it
a shame, to ruin paradises and make them a wilder-
ness. Seeking rest, he finds it not. How can rest be
found apart from God? Returning, he finds his
former abode swept and garnished. The sweeping
and garnishing are those things, regarded as realities,
which grow out of every human and Satanic delusion.
Indolence, vain security, sensual pleasures, every sort
of selfishness and hypocrisy, as were it man's chief
good to live to himself. These are those preparings
and adornings for the Devil which are taken posses-
sion of by him, which he occupies with a fuller power,
really more violently and filthily, though the possessed
one may seem, either through age or satiety, freer
from coarse excesses, while more depraved in heart
and mind, soul and spirit. For a man who has known
the truth to turn to a lie, renders his nature doubly
false. He who, having the Gospel, refuses the Gospel,
for that he calls culture, • refinement, aestheticism,
causes himself to be blinded, befooled, destroyed, with
a sevenfold deviltry.
Can we explain evil by the force of crookedness in
our circumstances ? Was the world created awry ?
Does this wryness affect our temperament, stamp our
character with an ill stamp, as were the Devil's image
and not God's impressed } No ; for then we must
show how and why things came to be so out of gear.
Do we find the cause in ourselves? Do we ill-
combine good things ? Is the corruption of our blood
so intense that we corrupt our circumstances, though
all the elements are perfect ? No :^ this evil that we
214 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
suffer from seems alien, not home born, it is a
tyranny over our own very selves.
The fact is, deviltry comes from the Devil. It is
one of the great facts of Revelation that our great
adversary is Satan. In the New Testament most
forcibly and plainly are we told that an Evil Spirit
has access to men and to every part of the world.
His deceit and lie led us to forsake the good order
we were in, and then he so established his tyranny
that we can only be free as by the breaking of chains.
It is not the real law of our being to be tyrannized
over, to do wrong. Doing wrong is by our disease.
Struggling, fighting against, overcoming evil, that is
the law. The Holy Spirit and our spirit strive
against the flesh that we may not do the things
we so often would, but those we always should. Evil
is not the law of our being ; though we have gone
astray and very far, the law of the Spirit, and our
own spirit in Christ, is that we endeavour ourselves
to be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is Perfect.
Such is the High Service of Man, this we bestir our-
selves to accomplish, and the history of our continual
effort is the Natural History of Immortality.
Had we not so great an enemy, we should not
require so grand a Saviour. Were not the ruin so
dire, redemption need not be so all-prevailing.
Because the battle is against principalities and powers
in high places, the Son of God is Himself our Captain.
The death we die through sin breaking up the body,
destroying the soul, and for ever, necessitates that
the life given by Jesus be that by which the body
THE MAN POSSESSED BY SEVEN DEVILS. 215
lives again, by which the soul is renewed, and that
the living and the renewing be everlasting. It is
not one man, here and there, who suffers ; the
tyranny extends over the whole race. Not one part
of nature only is in bondage, the whole groaneth and
travaileth. Common sense, daily experience, history,
Revelation, command us to be bold, to acknowledge
the truth that we are in deadly conflict against a
Sph-it who is the source of all evil. This fact is the
true explanation of sin and sorrow. On our side we
have the Author and Giver of all good. Through
Him we shall be more than conquerors. He is ever
and ever attracting us to truth and goodness. All
good on our side, all evil on the other. We do verily
believe that we have a world, a flesh, a devil, to fight
against ; and that our victory will be wonderfully
great, even unto everlasting life.
XXVI.
IBtbih ©nuting ti^t ^fomt.— I.
(St. Matt. viii. 28-34 ; St. Mark v. 1-20 ; St. Luke viii. 26-39.)
*' It is generally true that the destructive powers of creation are, for
the sin of man, in the service of evil spirits. That profound thinker.
Daub, has referred to the demon-element in the terrors of nature and
the war of the elements, and of the authority of God which can alone
command them to be still.*' — Stier, Words of the Lord Jesus ^ vol. i.
P- 354.
'* Our Lord everywhere speaks of demoniacs not as persons merely
of disordered intellects, but as subjects and thralls of an alien spiritual
might." — Trench, Miracles of our Lord^ p. 151.
BESIDES the moral province, in which the
Gospels are unquestionably suprenne, and their
historical genuineness and authenticity, of which
furthest and most reasonable research affords full
proof, we have a heritage of great value in the
assurance of an awful fact. We men, and the earth
we live in, are not shut up within ourselves. We
exist in living relation to two worlds — the higher all
good, the lower all bad. The higher is the kingdom
of God and His angels. The lower is the kingdom
of Satan and his angels. To Satan and those with
( 216 ^
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE. 217
him are due all the evils of the universe. There is
one central evil will ; and one Will, Holy and Good,
v^hence comes all good. There is nothing natural,
whether good or bad, but has the supernatural at its
back. Nature is a veil which has been and will be
again and again lifted, to reveal incidents from that
mighty dram^ of the spirit-world with which we are
all connected.
No one can intelligently read the Old Testament
without perceiving that all earthly sin and sorrow are
attributed to the malice and wickedness of a being
who, though vastly greater than all men- — were they
made into one, will be exposed and destroyed as the
most perverse, reckless, and malicious of all creatures.
As for the New Testament, the language and acts
of our Lord cannot be honestly interpreted otherwise
than that He condemned and acted against a personal
being, God*s enemy, whose tyrannical and devilish
oppression of men could not be overcome by any
other than Divine Power. Which Divine Power,
Christ brings and imparts.
It is not to be supposed for a moment that our
Lord pandered to a Jewish prejudice and spoke of
Satan and of evil spirits as realities, though He knew
that they were only delusions. He came as King of
Truth, to put an end to delusions, to rescue us from
lies, deceit, wickedness, and all evil. He was no
flatterer, and words cannot be uttered more forcible
and clear than those which denounced the devil and
all his works (Mark i. 25 ; Matt. x. 8 ; xvii. 21 ;
Lukexi. 17--26; xxii. 31 ; John xiii. 2). The greatest
2r8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of all hindrances to our living the higher life, and our
direct opponents in attainment of immortality are
Satan and the evil spirits who are leagued with him
against us.
As to those who argue against Satanic existence,
what do they gain by so intertwining all evil with
man that the wicked one is man and nothing more ?
Does not that so confound our own moral and
spiritual existence with the devilish, that we are not
only demoniacs, but worse ? Bad as man is he is
not utterly a devil. The awful horrors of war ; the
depravity of thousands in our towns ; men, women,
children, crawling as vermin in filth ; the heartless
debauchery of the rake ; the black depravity of those
who from love of evil oppose the Gospel, and would
if they could dethrone God ; the sneaking effrontery
of lying delusivedemagogueswho flatter the multitudes
to make gain of them ; — these wretched creatures have
not originality enough, not the genius nor power of
devils — they are tools of basest sort. Surely, that is
bad enough ! If our human nature and human spirit
are the very source, seat, power, essence of evil, and
there is no other evil ; we are not only very far gone,
but furthest gone, whence is no recovery. If Adam
was the first devil, and we are his angels ; if without
temptation from outside we resolved from within to
crucify the Son of God ; if of ourselves, voluntarily,
we went from God and ever since have fought against
Him ; if really there is no difference, no partition,
between us men and Satan and his host ; — then we
are not only on a wrong track, we are in the worst
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE. 219
possible condition. We are journeying, as a dark
host, into some everlasting abyss. Those who think
to make sin less by making man his own Satan kill
patient and doctor too. Let every man say to
himself, "I am not a devil, I am redeemed." Devils
have utterly corrupted themselves, there is no truth
in them, no seed that can grow into a good plant.
Their redemption is impossible. They are all evil,
utter corruption, whom we must leave to the wisdom
and love and power that will certainly do even to the
extent of what is impossible, if that be good.
The remarkable scene described by St. Matthew
(viii. 28-34), by St. Mark (v. 1-20), by St. Luke
(viii. 26-39), sets at rest for ever, by infallible proof,
this attempted confounding of man's nature with
Satan's nature. It was not the man's madness, nor
epilepsy, nor lunacy, nor rage, nor disease, nor anything
merely human, that went into the swine. The swine
were not in partnership either with the healed, or the
Healer. The Sadducees amongst the Jews, and their
successors with us who persist in denying the exist-
ence of spirits, have in the destruction of the swine
demonstration of the personality, power, and presence
of evil spirits. The man might deceive, the swine
could not. His healing and their destruction were
two factors : the former by a power Divine, the
latter by a power Satanic.
The exact spot where the miracle was wrought'
called by St. Matthew (viii. 28), " the country of the
Gergesenes;" by St. Mark (v. i), "the country of
the Gadarenes ; " and by St. Luke also (viii. 26),
220 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Gadarenes ; the names being used in common ; was
most probably near Gergesa, about a mile from the
sea, where was a steep even slope, down which the
mad impetus and rush of the animals carried them
into the water.
We now take up the Gospel narrative. Jesus,
having come out of the ^hip, there met Him a man
with an unclean spirit from the tombs. At first there
were two of these demoniacs (Matt. viii. 28), but one
was so exceeding fierce that the interest and main
events so gather to him that the other is forgotten.
The greatly possessed man cried with a loud voice,
" What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of
the most high God? I adjure Thee, by God, that
Thou torment me not." This shows an awakening
consciousness in the man which, while aware that
then he had no part in the Holy One, impelled him
toward that Holy One for some good, even though
that good were but forbearance. Jesus said, not to
the man, but to the evil spirit out of hell, " Come out
of the man, thou unclean spirit ; " and then asked,
" What is thy name ? " The answer was, " My name
is Legion, for we are many." Then a strange request
was made, that they might not be sent out of the
country, but sent into the 5wine. Being allowed, the
time for their judgment not being yet come, the
devils entered the swine, and carried them down a
steep place into the sea where they perished.
Certainly, the evil spirits would not have met
Christ, had not Divine power constrained them.
The man, enabled so far to overcome the destroyers,
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE, 221
ran to and supplicated the Liberator ; but then
reasserting himself, and speaking through the man,
the leading evil one, the ruler of the host Legion,
said, "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou
Son of the most high God? I adjure Thee, by God,
that Thou torment me not." The destroyer con-
fesses that he has no part with, or in, the Divine
Deliverer ; and so far has the evil one worked that
the human nature of the man is now silent, is con-
fused, is subjugated, and identified with the demon.
They must be separated, and the confused possessed
man brought to sober recollection ; the demon, there-
fore, is spoken to, and answers. Thus standing apart
from the man, he is commanded to depart, and the
command was obeyed. The legion of devils, closely
compacted and more terrible than the Roman army,
that dreadful instrument with which the world was
conquered, submitted to Jesus. They obeyed as do
night and day, land and sea, earthquake and fire,
summer and winter. All things are given into our
Saviour's hand. He will certainly prevail.
Despite our advance in physical science, we under-
stand very little of the natural history of hell, and of
evil spiritual influence on the affairs of human life. If
John Morley has said, " It is certainly not less
possible to disbelieve religiously than to believe
religiously," he spoke either in neglect or ignorance
of our Lord's solemn assurance that the wrath of
God abides on the unbeliever (John iii. 36). Christ's
word is of more value than any man's unbelieving
statement. We had better be, at our departure, as
222 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
dying Schiller, who said, " Many things are growing
plain and clear to me." We are justly told by him
of immediate Providence, that "higher spirits can
discern the minute fibres of an event stretching
through the whole expanse of the system of the
world, and hanging, it may be, on the remotest limits
of the future and the past, where man discerns
nothing save the action itself, hovering unconnected
in space."
The opposition of men, who ignore the working of
the spiritual on the physical and moral life of man,
a work so plainly stated in Scripture (Gen. iii. 13-17 ;
Matt. iv. i-ii ; Luke xxii. 31, 32 ; Rom. viii. 11-13 ;
Gal. v. 16-24), is rather due to a petty cleverness in
denying facts that are far more verified in history,
and by the experience of Prophets, of Apostles, of
men like Luther and Bunyan, and thousands of other
Christians, than are Professors' novelties of biology
which are not all accepted as true by our best
thinkers.
It is well known that mental malady has some-
times a substratum of bodily disease, and bodily
disease a source in mental disorder. To deny that
there is a dark and awful province in human nature,
subject to manifestations which those best qualified
to judge regard as of Satan, or of possession by evil
spirits, is to set at naught actual events in our own
times. Making guesses is not explaining. Denying
facts, because they happen to be outside our own
experience, or because they confirm the common
even universal belief that there are evil spirits, whose
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE. 223
existence we are afraid of, is not a discerning but an
obscuring of truth.
Did we see as we are seen startling wonders would
come continually into view. Strife, not only in the
case of Abimelech (Judg. ix. 23), but often enough
now, would be known as spirit's work. The possession
of Saul, the king (i Sam. xvi. 14) would have counter-
parts in our own time. Spiritualists, or whatever
they call themselves, are not all fools — though we
may account most of them wicked. To deliver us
from all these our Saviour came from the Heavenly
Land, and He does deliver. We will not refuse that
deliverance. We will not say there was no Devil for
Him to overcome, no evil spirit for Him to cast out.
We will bless the Lord with all our soul, and for all
His benefits thank Him. We will ^\v^ ourselves to
the great work we have to do, and lay hold on eternal
life. Does any toil-worn but devoted soul alone,
under the great silent canopy of night, offer the
troubled moments of existence in lowly service on
the altar of eternity ? Let him know that the
splendour which gleams in the spirit of the greatest
and happiest mortal, will be made immortal in the
soul of the contrite. The good thoughts we have,
the prayers we offer, our sacred ideas of Heaven, if
not expressed yet lived by, will glow, grow, and live
on for ever in glorious results.
XXVII.
Bebils ©ntmng t\)t S^toine.— II.
Nature. — **I am whatsoever is, whatsoever has been, whatsoever
shall be : and the veil which is over my countenance no mortal hand
has ever raised." — Inscription upon the Temple of I sis,
" God is Omnipotent, caring for every one of us as if caring for that
one only ; and caring for all as if all were one." — A Thought from St.
Augustine.
OPPOSITION may arise to the doctrine of the
existence of Satan and of evil angels, because
of abuses made of the doctrine ; but looseness of
morals, and an unwillingness to acknowledge the
enormity and deformity of the sin common to men,
are the active causes of unbelief as to the Wicked
One who has them in subjection.
Truth is always better than error, and to separate
ourselves from evil and to trace evil as the work of
the Evil One, will help us in our conflict. However
carefully we may endeavour to rid ourselves of belief
as to Satan, wicked ones will remain, and the hateful
manifestations of wickedness. It is certainly a help
to know that the source of evil is not wholly in the
human region of life, but more greatly in another
( 224 )
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE, 225
province of existence ; and the doctrine is not to be
roughly dealt with, nor hastily to be put before
immature minds, but rather in connection with the
grandeur and wonderfulness of redemption.
Certainly Scripture is pervaded with the truth that
what is holy and what is unholy amongst men come
from more than a human source ; and that the good
and the evil are a connected whole in the universe.
The good is the divine, the harmony; the bad is
discord, is devilish, an interruption, that will be done
away with. We are helped in our affections and
duties, by seeing good individualized in God and the
angels of light ; and bad is as darkness that may be
felt in the persons of Satan and his angels.
This unity of evil power, psychical and physical,
mental and moral, manifesting itself in predominant
sensuality amongst men ; weakening the nervous
system, destroying natural delight in stability by
putting doubt in the place of faith, so that internal
life being made feeble the whole man becomes
deranged ; shows that misery is not God's work, nor
wholly man's own fault, but greatly from fetters
imposed by a foe, and by powers which would
enthrall and subjugate our better selves.
On this fact, the reality of our better selves, is
based the doctrine of regeneration, of conversion, and
the great work of redemption. No man need despair,
even in demoniacs is some hope of cure, some spark
of desire for deliverance, and though but a spark it
glows. It was this presentiment of help which the
attracting power of Christ acted upon, so that the
Q
225 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
man ran to the Saviour despite all the power of
the demon. Many a life deformed by inquietude
and disease has been distinguished by intellectual
faculties, by sacred tastes and feelings, noble emblems
of a better state, where these gifts will brighten the
whole being.
Old objections, used by unbelievers against the
miracle, and shown to be valueless, are in our own
days furbished up and used, again and again, as new
weapons. Take three as examples. The Destruction
of the Swine was a violation of the rights of property,
and therefore immoral. The occurrence is incredible.
Belief in Demonology is a grovelling demoralizing
superstition.
The swine were not destroyed by the Divine Power
which healed the man, but by the demons that had
possessed the man. If the swine were not de-
moniacally destroyed, there was no destroying at all.
The swine would not be parties in a plot for their
own destruction. The possessed man did not drive
them down a steep place into the sea ; any more
than a modern professor, forgetting his learning and
proper calling, unless made wild and silly by unbelief,
would drive the pigs himself Christ does not destroy.
He wills that all go forth to bask in the Spring's
peaceful beam ; that all enter Heaven ; and that
all cast unbelief, the implement of self-destruction,
from their hands. He came to make the whole
world one family of the Father above. Why will
unbelievers inhale the torments of Hell out of
the joys of Heaven 1 Happy he whose faith is
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE, 227
strong, and turns temptation into the spur of holy
action.
As to the healing of the man and destruction of
the swine being incredible. Will any one show that
any miracle is impossible? The evil spirits craved
that they might not be sent out of the region of
mischief, to which their masters had appointed them,
nor dismissed to the regions where certain other
spirits are imprisoned and in chains (2 Pet ii. 4).
There was nothing wonderful in this. Possibly, they
also thought that taking away the swine would so
incense the men of those parts that Jesus could not
do any good amongst them. Possibly, even the
demons did not know what effect their act of pos-
session would bring about. Why, men will by
suicide run down the steep of self-destruction ; men,
the cleverest of God's earthly creatures, clothe with
beauty of circumstance and glorious pomp the most
deadly wars. Rush, as demons of hell, to bloodiest
slaughter. Blast one another to pieces with ex-
plosives ; pierce, hack, bruise in most deadly fashion ;
dash to the charge, to the breach, to certain death,
madder with rage than any lunatic ; impelled by
some demon Czar, or Emperor, or King, or blood-
thirsty Republic. Would you believe this, if you did
not know it ? If sane men, not possessed by devils,
do things much worse than swine that are possessed
by devils ; why squeal, in chorus with the pigs, as
were not men like you far worse than they ?
Besides, how could the Sadducees of those days, or
their representatives in our own times, be quite sure
228 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
that demoniacs were not merely mad, deranged by
disorder of mental and physical organs and functions ?
Who can tell but that the man himself needed out-
ward and visible evidence that his hellish foes had
really departed ? Take the miracle as true. It is
supported by more than sufficient evidence, it is in
analogy with the whole teaching of Scripture, it is
the strongest proof of reality as to Satanic possessions,
as to the personality of evil spirits.
As to belief in demonology being a grovelling
superstition, that depends as to whether the belief is
used to intensify our hostility against evil, or is
abused on behalf of the spirits themselves. Super-
stition, indeed, who can show a superstition more
wilful, more degrading, more destructive, than that
credulity of unbelief which denies demonology?
Our Saviour and the Apostles, the Prophets and the
Martyrs, the best and ablest of men in all time, were,
if the credulity of unbelief is to be accepted as a true
faith, either so ignorant and weak as not to be able,
first, to state the truth aright and keep it so ; or so
deceitfully wicked and foolish as to be parties to a
series of falsehoods the like of which is not to be
found in the world besides.
Why deny that evil spirits can enter a man, and
when expelled carry beasts to destruction, seeing
that men themselves are sometimes entered as by the
spirit of the swine? Is not that man, whatever he
may think of himself, the most superstitious of his
race who so relies on his own knowledge, his own
opinion, as to set at naught all that other men hold
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE. 229
dear ; who teaches that the best Book in the world is
the worst ; the truest Book is really the falsest ; and
that our Saviour, instead of setting us free from Satan
and Temptation and Hell, invented these things
and subjected our whole life to bondage ? The
miracle at Gergesa was a test which showed that
men cared more for gain than godliness, and it is a
test now. Why do they allow Satan to breathe a life
into their own imaginings of unbelief which cast them
down to death ?
We will think better thoughts ; that our imagina-
tion and reason may harmonize, and direct our way
to Heaven. All great men find that nature, whether
good or bad, represents an invisible greater good
and bad. There are here, on earth, that capacity
and opportunity for higher life and attainment of
immortality which their faculties affirm as the very
promise of eternity. They consider the space between
the outermost planet and the sun as less than the
3i,4i9,46o,coo,ooo,oooth part of the whole interval
between it and the next solar body. Now, we think
we know that matter, the inferior, was made for life,
the superior ; and that the apparent void is not utter
vacuity, or an ocean of death, in which the stars are
only as shining points of dust, but traversed by forces
and occupied by powers transcending all that we
know or think. Herschel thought that the remotest
galaxies, discovered by our telescopes, lie at so vast
a distance that their light this day reaching us set
out on the transit some two million years ago.
Squadrons of these starry hosts are ranged in worlds
230 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
more wonderful than our own. To think that there
are no beings nor better nor worse than ourselves
dwelling in those worlds, no powers, nor good, nor
evil, occupying those heights and depths and breadths
of space dimension, is contrary to all our knowledge
of symmetry and fitness. We are sure that the vast
expanse is not an illimitable wilderness of nothing.
There are known surges of flux and reflux, not only
the roll of worlds careering, not only reciprocal
attractions, but as our own brain is the dwelling for
our spirit, so is that expanse an abode for wonderful
spiritual creatures, unknown to us, but all known to
God.
The natural history of our present life, the assurances
of God's Word, the renewal of things moment by
moment, the passing of all things into the future,
the actions of angels good and bad, the miracles of
Christ, His resurrection and ascension, are all in
relation to the whole of things, make the universe
one, make our life one, and attribute all to God.
When our body sinks to ruin, it is not ruin, but a
dissolving for another reconstruction, and we shall
again set out apparelled in light on new paths.
Epimenides, the Cretan, spent forty years in a cave.
The daylight ever afterwards seemed unnatural. It
will not be so with us. If we seek holiness, we shall
ever look up and soar. We see the universe under a
veil ; but the earth that is here shall be left behind
by our power of thought carrying us there, beyond
Sirius ; and flocks of solar bodies, under care of their
Heavenly Shepherd, will expand themselves with
DEVILS ENTERING THE SWINE. 231
more gorgeous reality than our eyes now can see ;
and then these will give place, in our onward flight,
to worlds in new forms and places ; galaxy behind
and above galaxy, ascending in brilliant altitudes and
majesties. Our souls rejoicing, and all our faculties
growing in solidity of attainment and vastness of
expansion, we shall realize the potency and promise
of life immortal.
It is something to have within our mind a true
tabernacle of the living God ; which, like the magical
Eastern Tent, covers a great army of thoughts and
all their attendant facts. Sometimes our shadowed
mind seems in an illimitable dungeon. All creation
is imprisoned, and here and there, where a sun should
be, one sees instead through misty vapour dead solar
bodies. They are not white with light, nor warm
with life ; but clothed with winding sheets of perished
worlds, float in sea immeasurable, sea unfathomable.
Every crest of every wave, in ash-grey colour, bearing
the countenance of one who had lived a life ; and,
having wasted it, now in second death lives that life
again. It is an awful thought that these shadows in
our mind represent the dark ruined forms of men,
those dwellers in vast spaces apart from God.
It is well to think these thoughts for a moment, if
they serve to make life more real to us, but not well
to think too long. Rather, should we regard the
variety of present existence as cradles, for our infant
spirits ; and the earth as a school of discipline, where
we acquaint ourselves with God. We pass hence,
through fields of almost infinite space, to those
232 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
triumphal heavenly gates, like coruscations among
the stars, and enter where worlds are fuller, brighter,
mightier. The starry light leads on to heights and
glories, heavens more and more resplendent. Divine
Light making all creation very beautiful. There, in
our rest, we shall not be lonely. All our good
thoughts are true, and will be found truer. They will
have more abundant fulfilment than any man hoped
for. All those we loved and love will gather to us,
and we to them ; so large a company that no empti-
ness of space is anywhere, all worlds being filled and
in fellowship with joy. Then, as universal praise
resounds, the choral bursts rushing from orchestral
stars, our Saviour, the grandest sight of all, appears.
Through starry heights, in sympathizing being, float-
ing in light, He comes in human form, with face as
the face of man ; jewels of splendour in His hands,
around His feet circlets more beautiful than the ruby,
on His head a crown of many gems — every gem
resplendent with the life of living souls. The throne
of that God-man, Jesus Christ's Throne, is the spirit,
the life, the holiness, the beneficence of Love, that
passeth all understanding.
Soon, very soon, for in a moment, lo, we die, will all
this become the Supreme Reality. God, being all
in all, we shall see, in His great Light, that the conflict
against Satan and his host was a mighty conflict ; that
the natural history of immortality is a history very
wonderful, very true ; and that the raptures of glory
to come are so full and large that no heart, nor mind
could foreknow of all that the Love of God bestows.
XXVIII.
IBMm l^ealmg a ^antijetsal ^tmttple.
** To put Religion into deep mourning, give her a coffin for writing-
desk, and a skull for inkstand, is gloomy ; but not profound." — Alton.
** Death ! . . . Let it come, then ; I will meet it and defy it ! As
I so thought, there rushed like a stream of fire over my whole soul !
and I shook base Fear away from me for ever." — Sartor Resartus^ bk. ii.
ch. vii.
AS we look on living things they pass into death.
That of which even metals and rocks are
formed dissolves, little by little, into thin air. The
sun floods hill and valley with splendour, but soon the
light passes away, and we are in a realm of darkness.
" Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie,
All things will die. "
Lord Tennyson,
Are death, dissolution, darkness to be the end ;
making that which was and all that now is to become
as nothing t Is creation a walking up the hill and
down again, an empty show ? Are we no more than
sparks and flashes enduring but for a moment ? Nay,
all things will change ; but
" Never, oh ! never, nothing will die."
Lord Tennyson,
( 233 )
234 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
The knot, as to dying and living, is hard but we may
untie it. Our dying is not a death that finishes, and
all at once. We die daily, but we live daily ; the
succession is as day and night. The two form a
parable. The daily dying makes room for restoration
of that living substance which enables us, in the
dying, continually to live on. We should not live
unless we died. It all unites as part of a higher
transaction. Through our weakness, which Christ
took upon Himself He died by crucifixion ; yet, still.
He liveth by His power Divine. We, by sin being
weak, are also weak in Him ; we must die, though we
have been born into the Divine nature ; but we are
also strong in Him, so that we live and shall live
by the power of God (2 Cor. xiii. 4).
This conflict in our Redeemer, in ourselves, and the
victory, are represented by a fac-simile in the world's
procedure. Whatever passes away, reappears some-
time, somewhere. Rocks and metals dissolve, but are
not lost : they pass into other states, other places,
other forms. The sun, brightly shining in our faces,
wastes not a single beam : the light of it, the life of
it, tend to our inner and outer renewal. Every ray,
with all it works in us, are further transferred, and
again transformed, to things beyond. Life, not death,
is the grand principle which rules the world.
All mysteries are being interpreted. That barren-
ness of the long-ago past, whether of nothingness or
of chaos, passed into the fruitfulness of creation. We
know not how, but possibly the formless mass, or
mist, became fertilized cosmic dust, the germs of
DIVINE HEALING A UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE, 235
worlds. Thus formed, by power and light, they began
to move in new thoroughfares of being. Our sun and
other suns, the planets and other planets, were made
similarly and of substances similar. Not less closely
than our limbs, bones, muscles, veins, nerves, are
articulated in the body ; were all parts of the
universe, knit together in one system of dying, of
healing, and of life.
The splendour of a sun, the glimmer of a glow-
worm, the genius that blazes in a human countenance,
are wrought by one Eternal Power. All differences
are by degrees or kinds of energy sent forth to be the
worlds' working forces. " Our music in divers tones
from one strong harp," and all discords in the harmony
are corrected by the Master acting in unity with
Himself and all His works.
Our own bodies are of network within network,
and every one taken separately represents the human
frame. Place by itself the bony structure ; then
cause the muscular portion to stand up ; lay apart,
in order, the arteries and veins ; now hold up the
form of nerves, as a white ghost ; lastly, think of the
inner man, the spirit of all, and cover the whole with
skin. These networks, of complex but greatly similar
adaptation, form one body. This body, dying in the
old substance and living again in the new, is a small
symbol of the large process in the universe. The
Eternal Power for ever differences the forces and works
of nature by special afflux and influx from Himself.
** Oh, the little more, and how much it is !
And the little less, and what worlds away ! "
Robert Browning.
236 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
Every star is drawn somewhat out of its own
elliptical movement by the attraction of other stars ;
but the forces which cause the wandering, being in
relation to all other, are corrected and the right path
is confirmed ; so also, we believe, with thoughts and
things beyond the reaches of our soul.
By chemistry we discover that the noxious may
be rendered an agent for salubrity, and out of the
hurtful can be brought a power to heal.
From Biology we learn that there is a force of life
which raises new life from no life. The food we eat
is dead, but being eaten is, when we know not, made
part of our own new living. Nor this alone, every
landscape is fit to nourish moods of mind, or gay, or
grave, or sweet, or stern, as in truth designed ; and
so we rise in thought, making our intelligence from
things not intelligent, and nourish our intellectual
grasp of the world's arrangements.
Moral Philosophy gives the fact that in our work
mental, moral, religious, we refuse evil and choose
good. The damp is on our brow, hope's vigour
renews our heart. We feast in spiritual pleasures, we
revel in hope's assurances, our love delights in love,
sacred emulation strives, these are chased by Death
and overtaken ; but the worn man finds inner and
outer renewal, and as in life renewed, by sleep that
seems like death ; so in death, that seems like sleep,
he passes through an open door to immortality. Our
nature, that shrinks from death, thrusts forward the
best faculties venturously, and finding in each thing
and every and everywhere old powers becoming
DIVINE HEALING A UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE. 237
young again, and old life new again, rejoices in the
life beyond that dreaded death, and says, " I die to
live again."
The same truth is arrived at in other ways. Calling
things "phenomena," we mean that whatever we
know by means of our senses is not the reality itself,
but a show, or appearance of it. A tree is the
product of various forces and substances which are
combined into the form of a tree. An animal is the
product of forces and matter, somewhat different,
shaped and quickened into that particular creature.
Forces are made to be the workers, substance is the
material worked.
Think of work done by the unskilled labourer, then
of the skilled artist, the wise statesman, the devout
theologian ; they represent the works of unintelligent
forces, of those tending to beauty, of those adapting
and conserving, of those carrying into higher life.
The differences are due to the putting forth of more
or less special energy to effect higher and higher
completeness in the scales of perfection. Well know
and do your own work, then you will have some
conception of God's work.
Few of us do justice to the material side of nature,
the loveliness of flower and leaf; the splendour of
sky and sun, of star and sea ; the mechanism which
controls the dashing cataract, the rushing comet, and
the human frame ; all moving in orbits of mystery
whose elements are not only unknown, but probably
undiscoverable by mortal men ; because the complete
mental representation of the properties of even one
238 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
object is precluded by their number ; and because of
our mind's incapacity to grasp the past whence they
came, to comprehend their present, or to trace them
in that future whither all things are being carried for
a fuller manifestation (Rom. viii. 2i).
This truth, that all things are being healed, that
the whole creation is subject to the redemptive pro-
cess, passes from universal comprehension to the
speciality of our own personal life. Our battle-
ground is here. The Christian becomes a high-souled
scientific thinker. He takes the human body, and
therefore the whole material order ; the mind, and
therefore all and every scientific arrangement ; the
soul, and therefore all that is spiritual and moral ; not
merely into connection and union, but into that
capacity and prospective possession of endless degrees
of glory which belong to us as Sons of God. Our
Jesus, the representative Man, the perfect Man, was
also perfect God. In His Body He took our nature,
and that is, outwardly, of the earth, earthy. In His
soul, He took not only the dying part, but also the
spiritual living part, and conjoining all to God is our
guide, our star, our sun, assuring us of the new
heavens and the new earth — our everlasting dwelling.
XXIX.
^i^e ^supernatural ?:^ealing of ^iclintss.
**The old Eternal Powers do live for ever; nor do their laws know
any change. ... To steal into Heaven — by the modern method, of
sticking ostrich-like your head into fallacies on earth, equally as by the
ancient, and by all conceivable methods, is for ever forbidden." —
Thomas Carlyle, John Sterlings ch. ix.
MANY things in nature are a surprise, and not
less a strange delight. Delight is even a
weak word with which to express the feelings of a
naturalist who wanders for the first time in a Brazilian
forest. The grasses are elegant, the parasitical plants
are so novel, and the beauty of flowers, the foliage
of glossy green, the vegetation splendidly luxuriant,
fill the beholder with overpowering wonder. The
merry noise of insects is so loud as to be heard on
the deck of a vessel several hundred yards from the
shore ; but, within the recesses of the forest, universal
silence appears to reign.
This paradox of silence and sound, like universal
space, apparently empty, but crossed and recrossed
with numberless forces, reminds us of many mysterious
services and wonderful influences in nature which
carry the power of healing.
( 239 )
240 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
These influences are so strange that deadly poisons
have power to preserve the Hfe which they usually
destroy. The heavier gases, by the law of gravity,
would sink to the earth and bring destruction to man
and beast ; but by the law of diffusion, being com-
mingled, they are made healthful. In the lagoons
which skirt the coast of Brazil, marine and fresh
water animals live together. A certain kind of frog,
genus Hyla, sits on a blade of grass, a little above
the water, and sends forth a pleasant chirp, and when
several are in company they sing harmoniously on
different notes. Some butterflies, Papilio feronia,
when they chase one another make a clicking noise,
audible at a distance of twenty yards. In certain
briny subterranean lakes, hidden beneath volcanic
mountains ; in warm and hot mineral springs ; in
the wide expanse and depths of the ocean ; in the
upper regions of the atmosphere, and where is per-
petual snow ; — are worlds and worlds of life, living and
serving we know not how nor why — our knowledge
is as nothing. The whole enigma lies before us ; but
the solution is at present far away.
We can see few, and only a little part, of the
wonders that fill the earth ; but those prove more
than we know, and that there are marvels where
naught is seen. Our ability to think of these things
which are separated from us, is by power from their
Cause, the Divine Mind's Will : a power, not alto-
gether latent, but growing in us as seeds grow in the
earth. Not less our intellectual light in art, science,
healing skill, is a spark of that greater Light and
THE SUPERNATURAL HEALING OF SICKNESS. i\\
Skill with which the world is illuminated, and with
which nature's maladies are healed. These two
worlds of God and Nature are in us, the Unseen
and Seen, blent but distinct : as wax and the seal,
as the material Bible in print and the Spirit in our
soul. The body of things, forcing itself into sight,
we must look on. The Spirit we picture into shape
because we can only picture ; for we are in a zone of
blended night and day whose horizon circles on the
outer rim of Heaven, not further. By Heaven we
mean those realities which are made known only in
part by natural phenomena.
We may think of this in further relations.
Paralytic men have been known when their will
was greatly excited, say by the danger of fire, not
only to walk, but to run. Truly said Lord Bacon —
imagination is much akin to miracle-working faith.
We have innumerable examples of dying men appear-
ing to relatives and friends at a distance ; and of the
dead, seeming so dead that by no test could life be
discovered^ living again. Besides, Deep calls unto
Deep, and one bad passion wakes another until at
last seven devils, worst of all, are awful as the dead
speaking to the living. " Acknowledge, O Christian,
thine own dignity ; and having been made partaker
of the Divine nature, do not by degeneracy of conduct
return to thine own meanness. Bethink thee of what
a Head and of what a Body thou art a member.
Remember that thou hast been rescued from the
power of darkness, and translated into the light and
kingdom of God.'' , . ,
R
242 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Belittle these events all we can, they prove that our
will, our wish, our thought, are susceptible of influences,
splendid, weird and many. Some of us would be
daring as Caesar, eloquent as Demosthenes, noble as
Bayard ; but we remain humiliated and obscure ; what
we can do we shall do nevertheless sometime, some-
where. The wind does not say what it sings amongst
the sounding leaves ; nor is that moaning of the surge
all the language of the sea. The finest and divinest
of man's nature is not yet revealed. There is the
same distance, infinite, between the letters of our
alphabet and that psalm, " The Lord is my Shep-
herd," as separates things now from what they will be.
** Hark ! the voice
Of the whole universe is our protest —
* Death shaU be subject unto life.' "
fohn Cleland^ Scala Naturct.
Jesus IS the only one who, as yet, possessed the
vital power able to brook the mutiny of Death. Of
the many healed by Him only few are named. A
nobleman's son, and thereby many were made to
believe (John iv. 46-54). A woman with an issue of
blood was cured, whom no other physician could aid
(Matt. ix. 20-22). Two blind men in a house, received
sight, to show that Jesus is the light that lighteth
every man (Matt. ix. 27-31). A paralytic, a leper, the
Centurion's servant, Simon's wife's mother, the im-
potent man at Bethesda, were made whole ; the
opening the eyes of one born blind, the restoration of
a man's withered hand, the cleansing of ten lepers,
the healing of the daughter of a Syro-phenician
THE SUPERNATURAL HEALING OF SICKNESS. 243
woman, of one deaf and dumb, the opening the eyes
of one blind at Bethsaida, of two blind men near
Jericho, and the healing of Malchus' ear ; are other
particular puttings forth of power by which Christ
^lanifested His glory. Every one whom He healed
could use the words, said by David long before,
" Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His
benefits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who
healeth all thy diseases " (Ps. ciii. 2, 3).
These healings were wrought variously. Some-
times by a word, reminding us of Creation by the
Word of God ; also of illumination, and help by Holy
Scripture; and that Jesus was Himself the Word.
Some afflicted ones were cured with a Touch : the
Lord brought Himself into personal contact with the
sufferers — making himself one with them. On others,
He laid His hands more impressively, making them
conscious that His person and power were acting for
them and in them. He also cured by laying hold, as ,
if to give more help, aiding their consciousness to
realize and take part in what was being done. He
made clay and anointed the eyes of one. He
moistened the eyes of another, put His fingers into
the ears and touched the tongue of a third, laid hands
on one person twice. In all this there was meaning,
to instruct the healed ; power, to quicken their con-
sciousness ; a calling, to awake a greater sense of
need ; make them more effectually endeavour to be
fully receptive of the blessing, and to respond, in
body, soul, and spirit, to Him — the Giver. Others
were healed while endeavouring to do as they wer^
244 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
commanded : an example that blessings are found in
the path of obedience. One was purified of her
malady by the touch of His garment, she touched in
faith and was saved ; others touched, not in faith, and
received no benefit. Some had to plead hard, cry
aloud, follow on, and obtain the gift as by force : a
lesson that there are those who must determine to
overcome, they must strengthen themselves and be
strengthened by means of conflict. Difficulties betide
men in order that by overcoming difficulty their
peculiar constitution may have those special charac-
teristics which shall fit them for definite works,
honours, and blessings in the kingdom of Glory.
Every human being is different, there is something
marking man from man, woman from woman, and
child from child, with an excellence not owned by
another. It is that the excellence may become more
highly excellent. The ordinary and miraculous pro-
vidence of God, the usual and uncommon works of
Christ, are to give more prominence and power to
that excelling individuality in the future world.
Nothing is in vain. Are you conscious of a fault ?
pray and strive against it : Satan is very busy in that
fault. Are you aware of anything in which you can
excel ? try to excel : that excellence will shine in
the light of God.
Christ's miracles of healing are a symbol and
pattern of that purifying, strengthening, and en-
nobling which will fit our human nature for the
Divine Presence. They tell of God's nearness to us,
and of our dearness to Him. God, in His great love,
THE SUPERNATURAL HEALING OF SICKNESS. 245
came in Jesus Christ to be bodily with us : God was
in Christ. We are not left subject altogether to the
world's physical powers. We are not so wholly flesh
and blood that, being flesh and blood, we cannot and
shall not inherit Heaven. Christ took our flesh, and it
was nailed to the Cross. He was blood of our blood,
and the blood was shed for us. We are not formed as
the animals were formed, nor is our lot as theirs.
Christ is one with us that we may be one with Him.
Our flesh and our blood, so far as they partake of the
mere animal, will die and not be raised again ; but
whatsoever in our frame has been taken lastingly to
abide in Christ, whatsoever He has wrought in us by
the miracle of His Life, by the power of His Works,
by the greatness of His Love, by Holiness unspotted,
by Obedience perfected, by Death mysterious, by
Resurrection and Ascension glorious, will abide for
ever. ''Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful
works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which
are to us-ward : they cannot be reckoned up in order
unto Thee : if we would declare and speak of them,
they are more than can be numbered " (Ps. xl. 5).
Our life on earth, for which miracles are done, not
merely begins the body ; it concerns our Earthly
and Heavenly future. The mind, begun in that body,
is evidence also of a living mental principle — created,
and dependent upon the greater Living Mental
Principle by whom the world is governed. Our
Father warms us at His fire, feeds us with His bread.
Shall we close our eyes not to see the fortune that
awaits us, shut our ears not to hear it.^ Miracles,
246 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
wrought on behalf of truth, show that truth has
Divine sanction ; light a candle in us by which we
discern God's presence ; quicken our moral sense so
that we read, even in nature, that wrong- doing may-
be repaired ; and that, as a child may grow out of
evil ways, we can rise to truth and goodness through
Jesus Christ.
We have not less a moral than a material heritage.
The idea of prayer could not come, were it not that
some superhuman force gives further reach and higher
meaning to our desires. In finding God, a light, a
beauty, an ecstasy, comes to us. Our spirit is with
the Immortals, and in a moment we know of eternity,
and the knowledge is assurance of possession. O,
wonderful power ! O, infinite nature of man ! that
thus fills a thousand universes ! that thus transcends
all time ! Thus consciously filling, our growth is ever
inward ; taking possession, more and more, of the
outward.
When we think, and we do think sometimes, it
was too much that the Son of God should die for us ;
His hands and feet be pierced ; His heart be
wounded ; His head crowned with thorns ; this, so
great love, reminds us that He is a full, perfect,
sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the
sins of the whole world. We shall further think : the
miracle of love, the miracle of work, the miracle of
self-sacrifice, was to bring us into the light of Heaven
as perfect creatures. That light will not detect one
speck or flaw in us — believers are made perfect in
Christ. Satan and evil spirits may examine in vain
THE SUPERNATURAL HEALING OF SICKNESS. 247
for a fault : as Christ is so shall we be. Angels ad-
miringly look, but see no blemish. So highly valued
are we, that the greatest miracle of all was wrought
for us. Christ passed by the angels, took hold of
us, and wrought His wonderful redemption. God's
all-piercing eye will search us ; and see our body,
soul, and spirit, not as they were in Adam — but as
they are in Christ ; not see our sinful, but our
sanctified nature ; and He will say of every one,
as He said of Jesus rising from the waters of
Baptism, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased."
We shall then know the full power and meaning of
all the miracles. Nature, not now all good, shall be
" very good." The history of the world is war : peace,
perfect peace, shall at length ensue. The Healing
Miracles wrought by the word of Christ, wrought by
the touch of Christ, wrought by the hand of Christ
laid on us, will be made very glorious in those ten
thousand times ten thousand ; who, coming from the
graves, are not lame — but leap and run ; in those
who, no longer blind, see the King in His beauty ; in
those who, no longer deaf, listen to the music of the
spheres ; in those whose tongues are loosed to sing
all strains of heavenly praise : " Blessing, and glory,
and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and
power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.
Amen " (Rev. vii. 12). O, wondrous transformations !
prefigured by all former wakings and advance of life
"across the seas of possibility." O, wonderful per-
sistence of Purpose Divine ! to build domes more and
248 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY, ^
more glorious, and while laying wide foundation in
the manifold, teaching us to look to realms beyond 1
To that beyond we hasten.
*' As we step
Across the threshold we already feel
That nobler forms are around us, and the frame
Of Nature vibrates to a grander strain."
John Clelandy Scala Natura.
XXX.
IBMm l^ealmg lHakakti in tfie (Bits Testament.
** One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off divine event,
To which the whole creation moves.'*
Lord Tennyson, Jn Memoriam, Conclusion.
**Take this way, and you become a mere clod of the earth; fire,
energy, spirit, have departed ; you are the soil without the sun, the
dross without the gold, the garment without the man." — Unbelief.
^ I ^HE great truth that God is the Creator and
-■- Healer of all things, who leads them on to
perfection, is made known m all times and circum-
stances by many special acts.
Physical evil extends to the whole visible framework
of things. We find, so far as our science extends,
that the materials and conditions of other material
worlds are, however various, substantially similar to
our own. Heat and cold, storm and calm, calamity
and catastrophe, prevail everywhere. No two things,
anywhere, are quite alike ; but all things, everywhere,
are liable to evil.
The ceaseless, all-prevalent change adds to variety,
and the variety is good ; the weakness tending to
( 249 )
250 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
vanity and departure from rule, is controlled by forces
working symmetry ; so that amidst change we find
order, and corrective of weakness strength shows
itself Nature, the mask of the supernatural ; evil,
indicative of a greater evil ; and the good, demon-
strative of a greater good ; are symbols prophetic of
nature's transformation, of evil being conquered, and
of good so magnified as to be glorified, because of
Christ, " who gave Himself for our sins, that He might
deliver us from this present evil world, according to
the will of God and our Father " (Gal. i. 4).
By various researches we are learning the causes
and preventives of disease. This knowledge already
effects the saving of life, and enlargement of health ;
strengthens our thought, kindly relations one to
another, and to the universe. The variability in
everything, in man, in animals, in plants, in metals,
and in earths, is essential to advance. There is no
equality anywhere, except in the fact of transition ; no
permanence of work, or endurance, except in capacity
to become something else. Nature and life are not
as a dead sea. The able to rise, will rise ; the superior,
will not remain the inferior ; advance is the law for
all, specially for life and mind. You are conscious of
a marking-off which distinguishes you, as a person,
from all others ; use it to be better and to do better :
"The inspiring Angel came,
And touched thy lips with sacred fire
From Heaven's own altar flame."
It is a great and good faculty, when we cannot by
mechanics and figures prove a fact, to pass beyond
DIVINE HEALING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, 251
them and perceive other and greater proof which is
outside mechanism and figure. Evidence and proof
are not less many-sided than life and the universe.
Historical, literary, metaphysical, moral, and that by
which we know apart from proof as with regard to
axioms, all these evidences are shadows of a greater
knowledge on its way to us. To Christian people, all
light by which they now see is a shadow from the
face of God. When they are in the nearer light
eternal wisdom will be theirs. Those we count false
notes in the rhythm of the universe, are not false
notes ; but those minors in the grand strophes which
will make one great music.
Confusions are being fashioned into intelligible
order. Chaos passes into nature's loveliness, flowers
bloom, plants fruit, animal ignorance is laid aside for
human knowledge, and our earth, though but as a
grain of sand, is the theatre of splendours and powers
concerning spheres surpassing all description. The
remedial process concerns the softly falling rain,
makes it iridescent ; plucks safety out of the nettle
danger, and elevates man to God.
On Divinely laid stepping-stones we cross the
stream of time, stretch out our hand, and grasp the
far-off interest of daily events. The light of a candle,
in one moment, fills and reveals a space four miles in
diameter ; the light of mind shows the work and
purpose of God which fill all space and occupy all
time. We measure not men by bodily stature but
height of soul. That soul is the light and guide
leading the body to great amelioration, and the soul
252 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
suffers no defeat ; whether in prayer or patience, in
life or death, it goes straight to God. The ancient
fable that any who seized and bound Proteus would
know of things to come, means that he should discern
a divine plan in all changes and use it for good. The
ancient Revelation tells much more clearly of the
healing process which brings wisdom and righteous-
ness, sanctification and redemption. Now we aim so
to live that there be
*' No earthly clinging —
No lingering gaze —
No strife at parting —
No sore amaze ;
But grandly, gladly,
We pass away
From the world's dim twilight
To endless Day ! "
The writings in nature are like ancient cuneiform
inscriptions which cannot be read by unlearned men.
God, willing all the willing to understand, has written
out the truth plainly in a Book. All the true-hearted
may become wise, and run safely winningly for a
prize, every one in his own calling.
They learn that the conflicts in physical nature,
the pains and deaths of living creatures, were the
work of an Evil Being ; who also led our first parents
into transgression ; then began the process, and was
given the promise of deliverance, and of more than
restoration (Gen. iii. 15). The whole of nature made
new will partake of everlasting splendour, and the
spheres all have their parts in God's great anthem
(Isa. li. 16 ; Ixv. 17 ; Rom. viii. 18-23).
DIVINE HEALING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, 253
The two-sortedness of things that led to the death
of Abel, brought another man, Seth, whose son,
with those like him, called upon God for the great
cure, and separated themselves from wickedness
(Gen. iv. 26). The covenant made with Noah, the
answer to that call, confirmed the fact that greatly as
wickedness may prevail^through men desiring to
have it so — the goodness and wisdom and power of
God will bring a cure that shall make things better
and greater (Gen. viii. 21, 22; Isa. xl. 4, 5). The
purpose is an eternal purpose (Eph. i. 3-5).
Evil men all along, through stress of the wrong
done in Paradise, rather trusted in themselves than in
God, counting that their own power, skill, self-will,
would do all they desired ; but the Cainites found
themselves with their brass and iron, musical instru-
ments, and secularity beneath the waters of the Flood.
Succeeding wicked men, who constructed Babel,
brought upon themselves great confusion. Natural
things seem God's commissioners to effect His will.
Lucifer fell from Heaven, Adam was cast from
Paradise, Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human
society, and Haman was hung on a gallows. There
is no telling where evil stops, if men let themselves
be enslaved by it. One devil lets in seven others
wickeder than himself, and they make bubbles, dupes,
the fool-tools of that great Fool whose sin drove him
out of Heaven.
The Eternal is leading on to the cure of all this.
Every truth has a moral, every fact serves a principle,
common-sense leads to a higher sense, and pure
254 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
homage will come as the expression of unfeigned lips
(Zeph. iii. 9). The realities of art and science are
being assorted, the secular becoming sacred, and the
sacred enters all that is secular, for they are all of
God. In working this healing work, the wilderness
of our present existence will be made a paradise of
God, and Heaven come with the sweet surprise of a
perfect reconciliation. We shall know as we are
known (i John iii. 2), being divinely taught (Isa.
liv. 13), and bodily healing coming as promised
(Exod. XV. 26), faith will save God's people. The
healing of Marah's waters was a type of salvation
(Exod. XV. 23-25), and not a feeble person being among
the tribes (Ps. cv. 37) was a beacon of hope assuring
that truly to admire the beauties of nature is to
worship Him who made them, and that soon all men
should see a symbol of the Saviour in the bright
stars, the blue heavens, and in all things wisdom and
power. Moses healed Miriam of leprosy (Numb. xii.
13-15) as a revelation of God's presence, and that
the wicked should not always triumph, for another
power and life were at hand. David relied on this
for his own safety, the forgiving of sin, healing of
disease, redeeming from destruction (Ps. ciii. 2-5).
The Book of Job exhibits Satan as the malicious
destroyer, and God as the Divine Healer and Restorer.
To Hezekiah's life fifteen years were added (Isa.
xxxviii. 5-2 1 ). Jeremiah shows that to serve God
truly is a means of health and cure (xxxiii. 6).
Ezekiel (xxxiv. 22, 23, 26, 29) speaks of saving, of
shepherding, of showers of blessing, of honour, coming
DIVINE HEALING IN 7 BE OLD TESTAMENT. 255
to men through faith and obedience. Again and
again prophet after prophet declare that the peace
of the innocent will come upon men through the
Blessed Intercessor. The cunningness of vice is a
paltry imitation of the wisdom sublime in infallible
truth, even as none are so insolent in elation as the
abject, and none so arrogant as the meanly proud.
The great and good knew it. Prophets, kings,
believers, stood on the banks of the river of life.
They drank of the water, lived a fuller life, and by
means of their fulness we and other men are made
richer and better.
Pre-eminent as the means and power, the personal
blessed and blessing One, is the Lord Jesus. He is
King, Priest, Prophet ; as the One whose rule restores ;
as the One whose sacrifice takes away sin and death ;
as the One whose words are healing and life ; as the
One appointed before the founding of the world
(Eph. i. 3, 4). This Jesus in His life of sorrow, and
death of shame, exhibits that great fact, unaffected
by the false ingenuity of those who profess to see no
great unholiness anywhere, which thrills in the hearts
and moves in the voices of men like St. John, St.
Peter, St. Paul ; makes their sorrow articulate in
confessing their own sin and the sin of the world.
Following are Augustine, Dante, Milton, John Bunyan,
Luther, and a host who say that sin poisons the
springs of life, corrupts every joy, hampers science,
and debases art, causes all manner of physical, mental,
and spiritual agony.
The gladdening One, who comforts us in Qur
256 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
sorrow ; the healing One, who takes away our sick-
ness ; is Jesus. He brings into our experience, even
in this time, the fulfilling of the great ancient promise.
Living men, there are tens and tens of thousands, of
every age, temperament, character, station, who have
a personal conviction that their sins are done away
with ; and that because of this they and all things
with them, the worlds and all in them, are rising to
heights of happiness, immunity from evil, escape from
death, and to possession of everlasting life. These
men have an ancestry of those immediately before
them, and going back and back into the furthest past.
They belong to a multitude beyond number, to lives
in the remote past, and to generations yet to come.
They are witnesses of a deliverance already in part
experienced ; of a joy already in part possessed ;
and they have in this a key to the solution of every
enigma ; for palsied energies are quickened as by an
electric touch. Matter and spirit, earth and heaven,
sinner and Saviour, are so intermingling and inter-
mingled that we already see, as in vision very
beautiful, the filling of the earth with " the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea "
(Hab. ii. 14).
They say a beautiful painting of Jesus may be
seen in one of the foreign cathedrals. It touches
every heart where is a true love of Christ. A mirror
is so placed to reflect the picture in such manner
that on the roof, for old and young to see, is the
figure of our saving and healing Lord looking down
on all. May we too, looking up, see Jesus also
DIVINE HEALING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 257
beholding us and sending down miracles of power, of
goodness, of healing, forgiving our sins, curing our
diseases, crowning our life with loving kindness and
tender mercy ; making every one of us an epitome
of the great natural history of immortality.
** Father, before Thy throne of light
The guardian angels bend,
And ever in Thy presence bright
Their psalms adoring blend ;
And casting down each golden crown
- Beside the crystal sea.
With voice and lyre, in happy choir.
Hymn glory. Lord, to Thee.
** And as the rainbow lustre falls
Athwart their glowing wings.
While seraph unto seraph calls,
And each Thy goodness sings ;
O may we feel, as low we kneel
To pray Thee for Thy grace,
That Thou art here for all who fear
The brightness of Thy face. "
Farrar.
XXXI.
3®fbme l^talfng 1£lebealrt in t^e Neto Testament.
** These signs shall follow them that believe : In My Name shall they
cast out devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up
serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." — Mark xvi.
17, 18.
Jesus Christ was the Greatest of all Healers.
HE healed all that were sick, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias, saying,
** Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses"
(Matt. viii. 17 ; Isa. liii. 4, 5). Healing was the work
of Christ's life ; healing for the body and healing for
the soul. He understood the great mystery of the
world's existence. He saw all its terrors, all its
splendours, in their inmost meaning as irrefutable
facts. In word and act, in life and death, Jesus was
the great Healer. His words of doctrine not less
restored the soul of man, than His deeds of healing
renewed the body. He never turned away from the
faithful, and He healed all the sick who were brought
to Him. Divine influence extended beyond His
bodily presence ; stretching into and saving the far-
^ ( 2:3 )
DIVINE HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 259
off in distance ; even as now He saveth the far-off in
time.
The grandeur of Christ as God's Servant, a healer
of all men, of all things, of all worlds, would surpass
every effort of human understanding did we not
exercise and strengthen our faculties in various in-
vestigations of the universe. Around the body of
our sun, limiting the space to that in which twelve
planets revolve, is a cubical sphere of three thousand
six hundred millions of miles in diameter. The space
around the sun, extending to the nearest of the fixed
stars, is about forty billions of miles in diameter.
Further beyond are so many worlds, so vastly ex-
tending, that probably no finite creature is fully
acquainted with every one ; and none but the
Almighty knows all the provinces of His universal
dominion. Now when we think that Christ is such
a wonderful Saviour and Healer that through His
power. His goodness, at all those distances, in all
those innumerable worlds, and throughout all time,
He preserves and renews not only the earth, but
those many worlds ; we do not wonder at the choice
of Sir Humphry Davy, " I should prefer a firm
religious belief to every other blessing."
Jesus sent joy into the hearts even of strangers,
and never withheld help from a friend. He bent
over the sick, turned not from the leper, rebuked
disease, drove out evil spirits ; and with a look, or a
word, or a touch, healed all. The wretched went to
Him as their friend, and sinners came with tears.
He supported the weary, and comforted the heavy-
26o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
laden. He helped and saved the pure-hearted with
words and works of power. Supernaturally to heal
was His daily, His hourly work.
To confound those who say, " Miracles are im-
possible," Divine healings are of such frequent oc-
currence in our own day that no one, with any
experience in this matter, can doubt. The signs,
promised in confirmation of the faith of those who
accepted the Apostles* preaching, are given now also.
Men, women, and children become new creatures.
Should every one of the things be written which
Jesus does for the Church, the world could not con-
tain the books (John xxi. 25).
It is of no avail to talk of the laws that govern
nature. Most of those laws are not laws at all,
merely modes we are accustomed to. Disease as
much breaks the so-called laws, as it fulfils them.
Health, not disease, is the law and order of nature.
Disease, however it enters, is a disturber. To restore
health is an amending of that which disease has
marred. Jesus is that Restorer.
Through every cubic inch of atmospheric air in^
numerable forces are momentarily passing, making
and unmaking worlds ; shaping and unshaping the
things in those worlds ; and forming part of mental
plans and moral purposes which concern men, angels,
and God Himself. Mind cannot know, nor tongue
tell, nor hand write, all which is meant by the forces
in that cubic inch of air } We cannot see the minute-
ness with microscope, nor the vastness by use of
telescope, but this we know — these forces acting
DIVINE HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 261
according to circumstances, some of which they make
and by some of which they themselves are made, are
certainly reducible from their countless diverse ex-
pected and unexpected forms to other grander forms ;
nearer representatives of the Spirit of Power, the
Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Life. The Lord of
Creation acts more slowly during our time in maturing
the grape from water and air, than Christ who gave
the wine at once transformed. The unbeliever, in a
slip-slop way, talks of normal and orderly and natural
as if he knew all about what can and cannot be
done : whereas, he cannot know. Think of a man
whose mind, will, affections, life, abide in God con-
tinually. Is there not something in that intimate
association, a truer rooting than of plant in the earth,
and a nobler influence than of sun in flower } Is it
an incredible wonder that Christ should live in and
act in that man, and be to him as the Great Physician,
the Life, the Lord of all } Certainly not.
Death seems to accord with the laws of nature, but
is premature death quite lawful ? If I do the devil's
will and go down, as all experience shows ; and if I
do God's will and go up, as happier experience
proves ; is it not quite in law for descent and ascent
to be sometimes so accelerated that a man dies in a
moment, or lives in a moment t
It seems a clearer and better vindication of natural
law to recall the dead, from the disastrous result of
disorder by disease, so that he may live life's natural
period. "Nature is conquered by obeying her," so
Bacon said ; and our surgeons make a boy walk, who
262 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY, \
was lame from birth; and those to see who were
born blind ; by animal magnetism, or whatever else
they call it, vital energy is shed on the paralytic and
on the hysteric, so that new life begins. Is higher
science refused to Christ, the King of men ? If you
think so, or do not think so, make an experiment.
Follow that Christ : do justly, love mercy, walk
humbly with God, be as a brother of Jesus ; rather,
regard Him as your crucified King ; show that the
spirit of self-sacrifice is not dead, associate yourself
lovingly with the more than seven thousand faithful
ones ; and when Jesus has made these acts of con-
straint free acts, when you find a new power of life
in you, the old bad passed, the new good remaining,
the spiritual miracle so natural will make you know
that to Jesus all things are possible.
Why is not Divine Healing more Openly Displayed
NOW ?
It is openly displayed, the world is full of it, but
we shut our eyes. Light shines, but unbelief, " like
the pupil of the eye, contracts in proportion to the
outward brightness." Elijah was a prophet like fire,
and his words burned. He brought down famine in
his stormy zeal, shut up the heavens, and thrice
caused fire to descend. He raised the dead to life,
and spake words from God. What availed all this ?
He thought his work was vain, and asked God that
he might die. As for Jesus : from the many towns
and villages, out of every street, came strangest
DIVINE HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 263
assemblies. The child led its blind father, the father
came carrying his sick boy. Men bore those who
were helpless with fever, with convulsions, with all
manner of disease, and possessed by the devil. There
was a mysterious power and goodness in Jesus that
drew the wretched to Him, that fascinated them with
His sympathy, and then made them sing in health
and joy. The dumb praised Him, the deaf heard
Him, the blind went away with sight restored. At
every resting-place, in every day*s travel, a crowd of
demoniacs, of lunatics, of paralytics, were healed by
a word or a touch. Of what avail ? Wicked men
pierced His brow with thorns. His hands and feet
with nails. His side with a spear.
The seeming failure arises out of a real fact. Un-
belief wilfully acquires an incapacity to discern truth :
whether physical or spiritual. If Jesus Christ stood
by such a man with healing to save his body, and
truth to save his soul, that man would not have the
capacity to receive or use the gift of healing, except
in detriment to the soul. If Christ were pressed and
thronged by a thousand men — not one deriving a
blessing by the contact ; and a faithful woman weak
and suffering as that poor one with the issue of blood,
touched but the hem of His garment — she would be
made whole every whit. We do not see how Divine
Healing could have been more openly or largely
exercised by Jesus unless human freedom had been
coerced. If the indolent, the wicked, the unbelieving,
the malicious, had been healed ; that, by lengthening
their present life, would the more deepen and blacken
their future condemnation.
254 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
Divine Healing was and is more openly displayed
than ungodly men think : the power was imparted to
the Apostles, and to all who believed their testimony.
With the command, " Preach the Gospel to every
creature," was the promise, " Lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover." The whole Church, and
every faithful member, was miraculously endowed.
In the name of Christ devils were cast out ; men who
took up poisonous serpents were not hurt ; they laid
hands on the sick and the sick were recovered.
It seems good to our Lord that His believing
people, living in a sick and perishing world, should
be able to heal the living and to quicken the dead.
Healings are placed amongst the powers of the
Church (i Cor. xii. 28), nor is any limit affixed either
as to time or individuals. Like other gifts, they are
bestowed, severally, as God wills according to every
man's capacity (i Cor. xii. 4-1 1, 29). Some few, like
St. Paul, have every gift, being able to use all. These
healings in our material bodies are effected by force,
the force or power of the Lord Jesus, and they are
proof of His Godhead.
View it thus : If all the men in the world, who have
lived from Adam till now, stood by the paralytic
man, and by the dead man, and commanded the one
to stand, and the other to live ; it would be vain as
running up a hill to catch the passing moon ; but Jesus
not only heals one man. He heals and saves all who
put their trust in Hitn. He saves to the uttermost all
who draw nigh unto God by Him ; and He enables
the Church to do even greater healing works than
DIVINE HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 265
those He did Himself. Through Him, we all stand
face to face with the sweetly solemn and beautiful
lovingness of God.
Directions are Given for the Use of Healing Power.
" Is any sick among you ? let him call for the
elders of the Church ; and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord : and
the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
shall raise him up ; and if he have committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him" (Jas. v. 14, 15). The
kind of oil is not mentioned. The sick person was
touched on the forehead with it, or a few drops were
poured on the head. The anointing was symbolical
of the Holy Spirit's influence. The elders of the
Church were the ministers, other officials, and men of
faith. The means of healing, prayer and anointing
with oil, were not medicinal ; nor such as are em-
ployed by physicians ; but a Divine prescription for
conveying new vital energy in an easy and a simple
way. So simple that when we contemplate the
external and internal structure of any, even the least
complex of living things, we are amazed.
The thousands and tens of thousands of move-
ments, of adjustments, of compensations, fill us with
wonder. When man, the most mysterious and
marvellous of creatures, is found to be so easily acted
on by the Saviour, showing that in Him man lives,
moves, and has his being ; we see why St. John
wrote, " Beloved, I wish above all things that thou
266 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth " (3 John 2) : for in so blessed and blessing
a condition, body and soul are closely intimate with
their Lord. The neglect of such means is, first,
owing to decrease of faith; and, secondly, to "the
licence of would-be scholars overtopping the modesty
of the Christian."
By Divine Healing our Life is made a Divine Life.
Naturally and spiritually every man has his own
pattern of life. The wicked man, though he knows
it not, fashions his existence into the manner of that
Evil One who goes to and fro in the earth, up and
down in it, seeking whom he may devour. The
righteous man, being made a son of God, is trans-
formed into the outer image and inner likeness of
Christ who made, redeemed, saved him. Such a man
if Divinely healed as to the body, so that he lives
and not dies, is endowed with Life Divine both as to
body and soul. He knows that he has a life to
shape, rough stone to hew, build, and carve into a
temple such as the Master loves. The best work in
the world, done with tools, is but a type of this ; and
he does it, not only for himself, but above all for the
glory of God.
Divine Healing does not Give a Man Earthly
Immortality.
It does not take us wholly into the risen and incor-
ruptible body of the Lord, We still remain of that
DIVINE HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, 267
in which He suffered and died. Our humiliation is
to be like His, and we are to die ; that as our natural
birth passed into the spiritual birth ; our natural
death, which carries us to the grave and corruption,
may be changed into that glorious resurrection which
brings us personally, body and soul, into the Divine
Presence for ever. We bear about in our body the
dying of the Lord Jesus ; that the life also of Jesus
may be manifested in our mortal flesh, and mortality
be swallowed up of immortality (2 Cor. iv. 10, 1 1 ; i
Cor. XV. 52-54). Meanwhile, Jesus abides with us
alway, everywhere, even unto the end of the world.
He is the same to us yesterday, to-day, and for ever ;
and we are the same to Him (Heb. xiii. 8).
This marvellous concentration of Christ in every
believer, as a whole Healer and Saviour ; and the like
mysterious centralization of every believer in identity
of person and individuality in Christ, by which Christ
is in him every moment, and he in Christ ; is an incom-
prehensible wonder.
We attain some apprehension of it by use even of
what is common : for every physical thing gives many
lessons in things spiritual. Take a lens. With this
we see that which is invisible to the naked eye. We
gather into a point the glory and splendour of distant
realms. We search into the unfelt and the unseen.
We obtain a vivid representation of their true figures,
their colours, their positions. Indeed, rightly under-
stood, the universe as a whole is a concentration on a
grand scale ; man and all other creatures, as parts, are
concentrations on a small scale of the Eternal whose
26S THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Personality fills all things, and yet dwells in the heart
of the lowly and contrite (Isa. Ivii. 15).
The Final Result will be a Grand Consolation. ■
Meanwhile, we are those brave adventurers who
conquer their own lusts, their own ambitions, with
the sacred name of duty :
" 'Tis not price, nor outward fairness,
Gives the victor's palm its rareness."
Charles Ktngsley, Westward Ho !
No, " the best reward of having wrought well
already, is the having more to do.'* Nature's wonders
are an introduction to heavenly splendours. " The
more fair this passing world of time ; by so much the
more fair is that eternal world, whereof all here is but
a shadow." We do not fear death, it is only a kiss,
because we fear God. We now stand under the
shadow of our Father's Temple, and as we listen to
the murmur of countless languages, the voice of
creation passing into the sweeter speech of Redemp-
tion and Divine Healing, we shall soon behold the
full splendour of God's architecture, and then all
things will burst forth into fullest praise. Talk not
of destiny : it is the apology of wilful human hearts
for sin, and with it would they make God to be no
God. The life of Jesus is the great example and
lesson for all mankind ; and the death of Jesus is a
wondrous treasure ; because He, rising from it in holy
and exhaustless love, is proved to be more than con-
queror. That death is the stilling of human unrest
DIVINE HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 269
and disturbance. That resurrection life is the Divine
Life mirrored in us ; not only mirrored, living in us
with all power of healing. The great hurt of sin is
cured. The deadly wound of the universe, that
brought destruction to all, is now healed, and is giving
place to God's grand consolations.
** No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear ;
From every face He wipes off every tear."
Pope,
XXXII.
popular Objections as to l^talmg bg ipaitS*
The Words oj a Blasphemer, — **Now when miracles are insulted and
denied as the figments of a barbarous age, when the faith they might
support is in such jeopardy as it never was before ; when a tithe of the
wonders wasted in the deserts of Sinai and the parts beyond Jordan
would shake the nations with astonishment and surprise — when, in
short, the least expenditure of miracle would produce the maximum of
result — then miracles mysteriously cease."
Reply. — They have not ceased. God has always wrought them when
and where He would : they are wrought in our own day.
Statement of the Case.
THE prayer of righteous men has always been
effectual. In the Old Testament times, Elijah
prayed that it might not rain, and it rained not. He
prayed again, and the heaven gave rain. In New-
Testament times, St. Paul, writing of powers possessed
by the faithful, places amongst them " gifts of heal-
ing" (i Cor. xii. 8-10). St. Mark records our Lord*s
words — " These signs shall follow them that believe :
In My Name shall they cast out devils ; they shall
speak with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents ;
and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they
shall recover" (Mark xvi. 17, 18). St. James (v.
( 270 )
POPULAR OBJECTIONS TO HEALING BY FAITH, 271
14-18), giving directions as to the confession of our
sins, and our use of prayer, ordains, " Is any sick
among you ? let him call for the elders of the Church ;
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil
in the name of the Lord." Then he states, '*And
the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
shall raise him up ; and if he have committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him."
Some of the difficulties and objections as to good
men being able to heal the sick by laying on of
hands, by anointing, by praying, are these : and the
usual answers follow.
L If by faith and prayer we could heal the sick,
they would never die.
Not so : by natural law and Divine appointment,
men are to die ; but it is not of natural law, nor of
Divine appointment, that we should die out of due
time, before our bodies are perfected and fully used.
The prayer of faith is not to prevent aged Simeons
departing in peace ; but when sickness is untimely,
and death would be premature, we are told, " The
prayer of faith shall save the sick." In some cases,
we have to suffer for our own faults ; and at other
times, afflictions are caused by other men. What-
ever is for chastisement and correction we are to
endure for the deepening of piety and the spiritual
advancement in us of grace and power. As Christ
prayed, so does every believer, " Not what I will,
but what Thou wilt " (Mark xiv. 36) ; and it is
certain that if we do our duty Godward, we shall do
it to the worlds and to ourselves.
272 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
II. Could we provide for our wants, take away
trouble, overcome obstacles, and do miraculous works,
by means of faith and prayer : the graces of industry,
of patience, of perseverance, of skill, of self-denial ;
and all the advantages derived from the extension
of art, of science, of self-culture ; would fail. Greater
were that evil, than all the good promised to faith
and prayer — though miraculous.
This objection supposes that a special power given
to good men in times of extremity, will make bad
men of them ; so that they abuse to all manner of
misuse that which they know is only for exceptional
and special cases ; and given because the ordinary
means are not sufficient.
When God delivered Israel from Egypt, and
promised that, if they were faithful to Him, sickness
should be taken from them ; and none of the evil
diseases which befel the Egyptians allowed to afflict
them (Exod. xv. 26 ; Deut. vii. 15) ; the promise did
not set them free from ordinary care, and common use
of means, whether for prevention or cure of maladies.
The meaning of all such promises is well set forth in
the desire of St. John (Epis. 3, verse 2) — " Beloved, I
wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be
in health, even as thy soul prospereth." No miracle
will be wrought to release us from the necessity of
disciplining our bodies and minds and souls that they
may be brought to the utmost perfection. Nor is
that all : those who use the power of prayer to heal,
are men taught by the Holy Ghost ; and such men
will not make that evil which is given for their own
POPULAR OBJECTIONS TO HEALING BY FAITH. 273
and others' good. Faith works that physical, mental,
and moral process which, enabling us to be, to do, and
to become whatsoever God wills, causes us to rely
on being so under His care, and on so receiving His
blessing, that our bodies will prosper and be in health
even as our souls prosper. It is said of Caesar that
he was great without an effort. Much more may we
say of God's children — " those who have His grace
and gifts are graced with the sense rightly to use
them." Such men are the flower of this lower world.
They may be called great with its true emphasis.
They cheer us on our pilgrimage, inspire us with
lofty emulation, teach us to struggle ; and, filling us
with hope, we endure, we conquer.
HI. Faith does not always effect a cure : there are
notable cases of failure. St. Paul was not delivered
from the thorn in the flesh, though he prayed thrice
(2 Cor. xii. 7, 8). Timothy (Epis. i, v. 23) had
infirmities and often. Trophimus was left sick at
Miletum (2 Tim. iv. 20). Epaphroditus, sick nigh
unto death, does not seem to have been raised to
health by any prayer of faith, but by the mercy of
God (Phil. ii. 27).
Reply. — These and other cases show that the gift
of healing was not, and is not, to be used as a magical
charm. The power is given at God's chosen time
and in selected manner. Otherwise, rash professors
might idolize the gift ; and be like those Chinese
sailors who, to insure a safe voyage, worship the
magnetic needle. If a man is rash, tempts providence,
goes beyond the powers given him, he, not less than
T
274 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
his works, is in danger of something worse than mere
failure. Adversities often come as a trial. Affliction
is needed for discipline. God chastens us for our
good. There are lessons to be learned, graces to be
acquired, faults to be amended, and qualifications to
be attained, fitting us for the reception of gifts. The
power of healing is subordinated to all this. In con-
firmation of our faith, in fitting us for work and more
work, as a means of persuasion that men generally
may know of God's presence with His people, the
power to heal is used intelligently by the Church in
accordance with Divine Will.
IV. The power of healing is not now exercised by
the Church, and any attempt to re-establish faith-
healing, as a means of cure, would provoke ex-
travagances, impostures, and rash assumptions. Pro-
fessors of clairvoyance, mesmerism, spiritualism, would
vie with Christians, and many would be the asserted
marvels.
Reply. — The Gift is not only exercised, but used
largely by individuals, and has never, though much
neglected, been obsolete. It is true that after man's
strongest efforts, little may be realized ; without those
efforts, there must be little. It is not so much in
many works and their great extent, but in the quality
that we seek the stamp of God.
Moreover, if God promises help, in answer to
prayer, greater than can be attained by use of ordinary
means ; we, certainly, while using all proper means
should earnestly pray for that help. Christ declared
that wonderful signs should follow those who believed ;
k
POPULAR OBJECTION'S TO HEALING BY FAITH, 275
St. James gave directions for use of one of the signs,
healing by means of faithful prayer ; and we neglect
a privilege, turn aside a blessing, and are men of
disobedience as to duty, when we cease to expect the
blessing promised, and do not use the appointed
means to gain it. The conviction that God works
with us, and by us, will not weaken, but augment, our
every force. It was not amidst His own Divine
splendours, nor amongst the pageants and banners
of earthly wealth and martial might, that the Son
of God set the exemplar of a holy life. In His
humiliation, as a man, poor, forsaken, sorrowing,
oppressed, with the afflictions and sins of the world
wearing Him, wasting Him, carrying His life to the,
grave, He was Holiest of the holy. No promise that
He gave at such a time should be forgotten ; no.
direction coming to us by Inspiration can we allow
to be neglected.
Enough of objections. As a rule, those who give
themselves to the public teaching of unbelief, as to
Scripture, are addicted in private to superstitions.
To such superstitions as fulfil the fable of Circe, and
degrade men into mere animals : not to look upward,
not to soar. Observe now that Divine Healing rests
on principles which every one ought to know.
I. Though pain, disease, death, were the lot of all
living creatures before the creation of man ; the origin
of these afflictions was by a supernatural evil power ;
and although man was created above the natural
order, and not subject to this supernatural evil ; he
brought himself under bondage to its mischief through
276 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
transgression, being deluded by Satanic guile. The
promise and gift of healing are an assurance and a
seal of deliverance ; and that if he and others pray in
faith earnestly neither the malice of Satan, nor any
natural calamity, shall carry them to such untimely
grave as brings ruin to the soul.
II. In sickness, disease, death, there is always more
than medical skill can either detect or heal. Every
finite thing, indeed, touches the infinite ; and all
natural order is a concrete of some spiritual rule.
We fight against powers, not only of the world, but
of spiritual wickedness in high places. It becomes
us consequently to use the whole armour of God. If
we neglect to use the appointed divine weapons and
gifts we are verily guilty. The will of man avails
much, and greatly more avails when sustained by
Divine power. When in obedience to our Heavenly
Father, and by help of Divine Grace, we abide in
Christ ; there comes into our soul at every time of
need a new, signal, special, definite, baptism and
sealing of the Holy Ghost ; and this, when God wills,
gives healing power to the body. The spiritual
blessing is always greater than the material gift.
III. Whatsoever was written and done in old time
is for our learning ; not only for a time, but all
time. No event, nor teaching, nor work, nor miracle,
can be separated, as if of no further use, from the
Church universal. Healing and Redemption belong
to all ages. Whatever w^as good, will be productive
of more good, as men grow in faith. Whatsoever
was bad, becomes worse ; until at last the wicked
POPULAR OBJECTIONS TO HEALING BY FAITH. 277
being most wicked, their evils are the greatest. We
must not allow our trust in Divine Providence to
become an error, deadening and benumbing our use
of God's promises, and Christ's healing gifts ; nor
ought we, in the use of natural means, to forget that
God has graciously added to their power by other
helps. The alertness of an inspired will, the noble
energy of a sanctified spirit, will not neglect but
lovingly, faithfully, zealously, with insistence that
takes no denial, use the prayer of faith to save the
sick. It was the will of our God that by miracles
and healings men were led into the Faith.
It is His Will now, for God changes not, that His
servants by these signs show the agnostics, the
secularists, the worldly, the unbelieving, that His arm
is not shortened. We avail ourselves of all that
science knows, and thank God for it. The resources
of civilization are ours, and we use them to the
utmost. We labour in wise and kindly nursing ; and
thankfully call in that medical skill which the devout
and learned and experienced physician and surgeon
have at command. If is God, however, the real
Physician, who gives the chief medicine ; who makes
drugs, operations, kindness, nursing, to have true
healing power ; who takes away sin, sickness, death ;
giving righteousness, healing, and everlasting life.
We live and work as children of the Most High God :
a noble life now, a nobler life hereafter. In the
natural, everywhere touching the supernatural, we
have the natural history of immortality.
XXXIII.
Hfmitations of Bibme l^ealmg.
**If you say you cannot believe, you say right ; for faith, as well as
every other blessing, is the gift of God ; but wait upon God, and who
knows but He may have mercy on thee." — George Whitefield.
*' To make easy things seem hard is every man's work ; but to make
hard things easy is the work of a great preacher." — Archbishop
Ussher.
I. /^^ENERALLY, Divine Healings, like the
VJ Kingdom of God, begin within. A man's
soul is helped, and thence health is diffused through
the whole man (John i. 12; iii. 3, 15). Sometimes
believers help, and are helped as Jesus was at the
grave of Lazarus (John xi. 41, 42). Then, conscious
of that help, they are able to say, " Father, we thank
Thee that Thou hast heard us, and hearest us always ;
for our will is Thine, and Thou makest Thy will to
be ours. To live is Christ, and death is an open gate
to life eternal." The first limitation of Healing by
the prayer of faith is the Divine Will.
n. All living creatures are limited by their grades
in life. The lowest are without consciousness. Those
with consciousness or physical senses only, possess
( 278 )
LIMITATIONS OF DIVINE HEALING, 279
no intelligence ; and only the higher intelligence, as
in man, seems able to worship. Neglect to use this
high intelligence, Godward, causes loss of the spiritual
faculty ; and the absence of this, with the accompany-
ing inability to believe ; limit even Christ's power to
heal (Matt. xiii. 58). A natural fact is in relation to
this spiritual truth. Sound waves are propagated in
the atmosphere somewhat as ripples are spread on
the face of a pool. If by propulsion of other ripples
and waves you fill up the interstices of the water, or
of the atmosphere, the face of the pool will be level,
and the atmosphere be stilled, so that no sound is
heard and no ripple seen. Evil men deaden in them-
selves all motion Godward ; there is no rising of their
spirit to the spheres, no movement in them of the
water of life. They are incapable of receiving any
spiritual gift, and their incapacity to receive renders
even the prayer of faith in vain (i Cor. ii. 14).
III. One star differeth from another star. The
earth did not always serve for living creatures, nor
are all men faithful. The gifts to the star, the earth,
the man, are distributed by infinite wisdom ; and those
to the man extend beyond what is necessary, even to
all those uses by which he may become perfect — even
a Son of God (John i. 12). The perfection is various;
we are not all prophets, nor apostles, nor workers of
miracles ; some have wisdom, others tongues of
mystery, there are those who heal, and some reveal
things that are hidden ; there is a faith that removes
mountains, and a charity that will hide a multitude
of sins ; while some, like Andrew, lead their brother
28o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
to Christ. These men, seeking excellent gifts of
influence, of health, or of longer life, are only limited,
as to themselves, by the power to receive and the
faculty to use ; and limited, of God, by those pur-
poses they are to serve in this life and that to come,
and the places they are to occupy around the throne
of God. The variety on earth is great, the variety in
Heaven is greater, and the perfection of one is
adjusted to forward the development of all. The
limitation is by the purpose of God in fitting every
man and all men for the best use.
IV. Science reveals a unity of power working in
all things and everywhere. This unity limits excess.
The eye, the hand, the head, must not behave as were
they the whole body, or schism would arise, and in
prevention of this the providence of God is wonderful.
The study of nature, by those capable, becomes a
growing delight in the exuberance of natural beauty.
The sense of duty in some makes the whole course of
life one victorious march to spiritual empire. This
duty involves a moral scheme, a heavenly future, the
giving of account. A peremptory alertness, cheery
swift decision, determining to win, are marvellous in
removing obstacles. He who thinks aright of all this
will seek perfection in the doing of all God's will ;
and God who leads on every stone and tiny plant
that it may be something wonderful, is certain so to
guide His sons and daughters that they shall do and
be all that is best in the best manner at the best
time. The limiting is not less a work of goodness
than of wisdom in harmony with a universal plan.
LIMITATIONS OF DIVINE HEALING, 281
V. Sin is the only unnatural thing in nature ; yet
nature, touching the supernatural on every side, is
itself supernaturally pierced and in every direction ;
this limits the working of unnatural exploits. No
man is set free from the duty and privilege of sub-
jection, or from personal co-operation with God.
Very seldom, if at any time, does God interfere to
cover the dulness of His own people. The diligent
soul is made fat, the not diligent becomes lean. If a
child of light wilfully goes into darkness, he will
suffer loss. Religiousness is no excuse for want of
skill. The clever and prudent surpass the stupid.
He who abuses health, strength, and wealth, in mere
display and reckless life, remaining poor and blind
and naked as to God, will be taken away and put to
some use — not to be preferred. The salt that loses
its savour, the ground that will not bear fruit, the fig
tree that in season bears no figs, are cast forth. The
darkness of space around the stars gives distinctness
to their light, even so wicked men even now are a
foil to the righteous ; and when these wicked are
gathered by the angels they are gathered to subserve
a purpose, as in a fire, for God will not allow any-
thing to be in vain. Neither shall the sons of Sceva
(Acts xix. 13-16) prevail; nor yet even better men
accomplish by prayer that which God's providence
requires to be done in and by the well-ordered use of
means. Limitations are preventions of unnatural
exploits.
The general and special providence of God thus
282 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
disallows graces and gifts and powers to be used
apart from the analogy of that faith and obedience
which accord with all the Divine Will. His limita-
tions restrain us to those uses which belong to our
individual grade of being. His limitations are for
our higher definiteness and power in uses to come, to
keep us in accord with the great harmony and com-
pleteness of the universal plan, and to prevent
unnatural exploits.
We cannot tell why some prayers are answered,
and others are as if unheard. Our faith says, " They
are deferred to be the more preferred ; " but our fears
sometimes call out, and loudly too. James, in prison,
was not delivered, probably, because God meant him
to have a martyr's crown. Possibly, though that is
not our thought, not having been specially prayed for,
he was beheaded. Peter, prayed for continually, was
saved alive (Acts xii. 1-9). There is no want of power
in God : He governs the world and is Lord of all
power. There lacks not wisdom : He guides the stars
with a science of which our knowledge is but as a letter
or two of the alphabet in which the universal book is
written. There is no failure of goodness : He richly
provides food for every creature, and gives them joy in
the eating. The righteous truly prosper because of
their righteousness ; they have the promise and
potency of this life and of that to come ; but they
are not unduly favoured. They are preferred, both as
^o nature and grace, but the preference arises out of
their keeping in the natural and spiritual order, and
out of rightly using the powers thereto belonging.
LIMITATIONS OF DIVINE HEALING. 283
There is no favouritism with God, the race is not
alvvay to the swift, nor victory to the strong ; but,
certainly, he that will not run shall not win ; nor is
the coward, who flies from the battle, reckoned
amongst the valiant. There are many reasons why
it should be so. The first is, every one should aim
at perfection in skill, in faith, in strength, in zeal, in
love, in patience. He who serves God best, who
makes best use of nature, who does most good to
men ; he who is best, who thinks best, who acts best ;
will find all things work together for his good. Men,
faithful as Abraham, pure as Joseph, valiant as David,
temperate and diligent and wise as Daniel, are
eminent here ; And hereafter, in their grander occu-
pations, will be of brilliant life, sparkling in the
splendour of the new heavens and the new earth.
The providence of God, when the whole is seen,
brings into accord all the limitations of God.
Sometimes, in our musing, the gloom becomes a
shadow, and the shadow thickens into a gathering
out of darkness an awfuli shape of evil presence.
Ghastly and cold, with deathlike face and hands, the
body of evil is dressed in the terrible show of guilt.
Such a demon has haunted all men, since the world
began, who neglected their youthful time ; who
strove, not to be better, but to make wicked rugged
steps for worn transgressing feet to rest and rise on.
Mother's self-denying love, father's good counsel, they
had not or heeded not ; they were cast loose, or
being loose cast off themselves. They sought know-
ledge in the mines of iniquity, and worked in the fire
284 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
to forge instruments of sin. In outward form they
are men, but inwardly they live and die as the beasts,
regardless of God. They diffuse evil by defiling what
they touch, and every use they abuse. Selfishness,
ingratitude, unbelief, make a wTetchedness whose
transformation is to more hateful sharp malignity
setting all good at naught. Their heart-sin, their
living depravity, their awful unbelief, turn aside all
that prayer can ask, all that God would give. They
refuse the obedience of holiness that God requires ;
and, so far as they can, make " the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all " of none effect.
The end of that gloom is not necessarily death.
For those who, like St. Paul, come out from the con-
viction of sin, of weakness, of transgression, into true
penitence and life of the spirit, there is no condemna-
tion (Rom. vii. 9-11, 18-20, 24; viii. 1-4); but the
entering of great light and of strong consolation.
None are left in despair, but those who so forsake them-
selves as deliberately to cast off all fear, all reverence,
all love, of God. Even for these while there is
life there is hope. When the darkness and unbelief
and fear cease to possess the soul and no longer take
them from the Saviour, they may be saved. His merci-
ful countenance ever beams on men to beautify the life
of all who can be beautified. Even for those we count
hopeless and helpless it brings some hope with help
and joy. It becomes us to say, ''Oh, Father, better
than all fathers on earth ; oh. Saviour, more saving
than all others ; oh. Spirit Divine, that bringest back
and receivest all wanderers ; thou art our Father,
LIMITATIONS OF DIVINE HEALING, 285
our Saviour, the Sanctifier. Remember not our sin,
nor that once we meant to live evil and bold, and evil
and bold to die. Oh, work, thrice Mighty, thrice
Merciful, thrice Holy ; if it be possible, work the
impossible. Thou showest the future misery of the
lost, that some glimmering of contrition being found
in the impenitent, the day-spring may arise that they
be not for ever benighted, and that mercy may bring
rescue to the perishing." With trembling wonderment
we put up our hands in prayer, and with awe bow
down our head, being glad at the thought of their
restoration so overpassing belief and hope. We think
of ruins rebuilt ; of harvests gathered, the fruit of
heaven's benediction, from fields unsown by human
hands ; of places, once overspread with wickedness,
filled with righteousness ; and thus endeavour to rise
to the height of Divine mercy. We speak as our-
selves once dead, having been made to live. Our
redemption and life quicken the wish that He who in
His Death saved the dying thief, may in the fulness
of wisdom, the majesty of power, the richness of
exhaustless love, set aside every restricting limitation,
and bring back the banished. When the fierce
tempest raged, He, calm and still, did save the
perishing.
" * Save, Lord, we perish,' was their cry,
' O save us in our agony ! '
Thy word above the storm rose high,
* Peace, be still.' "
Thring.
XXXIV.
Application of Science anti ^IjiIosop^B*
** No hand, but the hand of God alone so governs the masses of the
universe as to hold them in order ; and so touches our souls in their
inmost depths that we and the earth and heaven are knit together, and
there is one Life everywhere. The forms of things, their essences, their
aspects and behaviour in sadness and in splendour, are notes in one
responding chord, parts of a grand harmony soon to be all-prevalent."
— Note Book,
MANY facts, attested by honest, capable, pains-
taking witnesses, show the reality in our own
days of healings which exceed the limits of all known
natural and human means, so that no reasonable
<ioubt ought to exist as to their being given of God,
in confirmation of our Christian Faith. Clerg}^ and
laity of the English Church, various non-conforming
ministers, medical men, lawyers, and professors of
physical science, with a large number of healed
persons, present indisputable evidence that the Gift
of Healing is now, as in the Apostolic age, one of the
siens which follow those who believe. We receive and
transmit not less a moral than a material heritage to
those who come after us. It is certificate of a good
( 286 )
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY, 287
time in the future when burning thoughts and faith
in Christ will animate and save many souls.
No Christian person hesitates as to the possibility
of supernatural cures. When medical means fail,
supplication is made in Church for Divine help.
What so common as the proverb, '^ Man's extremity
is God's opportunity ? " We believe in the efficacy
of prayer, of regeneration, of conversion, and of
Divine power in the use of Holy Scripture to enlighten,
to heal, to strengthen men. Not a few, conscious of
renewed spiritual life and power, possess the consola-
tions of God ; and know that they are in union with
their Saviour by His dwelling in them, and by their
abiding in Him. These consolations are as light from
a world where is no darkness at all ; as echoes from
Heaven telling of the music there.
We go somewhat further. The higher reasonable
exercise of thought, imagination, feeling, emotion,
enables believers to live habitually in truer and more
joyous conceptions and anticipations than all that
men of art and science can picture. Believing souls
prospectively enter, where the spirits of just men
possess the nearer view and presence of their Lord.
They experience a cessation of all human anguish,
possession of assured happiness, in the light that
shines on them from the realms of eternal life and
love. These uses of the highest spiritual faculties not
only obtain knowledge of God, but partake of the
Divine Nature (John i. 12 ; Eph. iii. 19). They not
only naturally and physically heal many of infirmities ;
but are channels of Divine grace, fitting those who
288 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
are healed for the use and enjoyment of more glorious
things to come.
It is not hard for ingenuous, intelligent, well-read
persons, of disciplined intellect, to prove, for them-
selves, the reality of the asserted spiritual and physical
healing ; and then to confirm that proof, so far as they
have knowledge, by scientific investigation.
I. Daily Evidence of Divine Healing.
Carry yourself beyond mere animal exercise of the
senses to view what the arts accomplish in helping
and adorning our daily life. Then raise your thought,
by repeated efforts, into mental view of those artistic
and scientific achievements by which the highest
styles of beauty and the structure of worlds are
revealed. Study the greatest pictures, hear the
noblest music, examine the constructions and uses of
scientific instruments in connection with the theories
which they show to be probable. You will then have
looks of things coming from great distances, and
sometimes be almost wild with pleasure. Stars,
millions and millions of miles away, will touch you in
the night. Intuitions like sensations, and sensations
like intuitions, will come as from vastnesses and
worlds and powers making you already as one
of the immortals. Hands there will hold you,
whispers here will tell you, feelings continually assure
you, of something working in all, for all, tran-
scending all.
Having done this, having ascended from height to
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 289
height of scientific and emotional exercise, you will
be conscious of the great contrast between things
seen and unseen ; between the physical and mental
faculties ; and will find yourselves already higher
than mere mechanical and animal nature. You will
conceive somewhat of scientific men's passionate
yearnings for more knowledge. You will discern,
even though at a distance, the believer's unutterable
desire after the Divine Love, the fervent aspirations
of a devout spirit, the admonitions of conscience,
and the delights in God, which render the Saints
so divinely strong and beautiful. You will find
that advanced accurate science is the grand super-
structure of the House of Mental Life for occupation
of highest intelligence ; and that the sanctification
of science, by spiritual ascent to God, is as a
golden crown for that intelligence. All holy men,
cultured to their utmost by every discipline and
experience, inward and outward, are the saints of
God : His specially healed ones, who are to be
greatly glorified.
All who wilfully make themselves sensual, worldly,
vicious, by continuing in spiritual, mental, and physical
ignorance ; are a lower sort of men, not healed, but
not yet eternally judged. It is well to think of them
as breaches in walls, as ruins, as dead things passed
away, yet not passed away ; which Nature, God's
Priest, covers over with vegetation of moss, of fern,
of flower, so that they serve, though once wicked and
hurtful, to reflect the vast power, vast wisdom, vast
goodness, which makes them as darkness for the dis-
U
29© THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
play of light ; and, even in lowest state and ministra-
tions, to be examples of God's infinite patience and
beauty in all righteousness.
Daily experience, led up from low to high, and
descending from high to low, recognizes in these
two sorts of men, that continual conflict of good
and evil by which the Spirit of God is leading all
who love what is good into healing which fits them
for a higher life ; and by which, all who refuse good,
who make themselves incapable and unworthy of
healing are conformed to meaner uses. ** In a great
house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver,
but also of wood and of earth ; and some to honour,
and some to dishonour " (2 Tim. ii. 20).
II. Confirm this Daily Evidence by Scientific
Investigation.
First Step, — It is not necessary to assume that any
new force has been discovered ; nor to suppose that
some dominant thought lays hold of the mind, and,
of itself through the mind, influences and heals the
body. The processes, possibly, are not less physical,
though used by Intelligence, than those intelligently
used by Athanasius Kircher, when he made a fowl lie
motionless on the ground with its beak resting upon
a chalked line ; than those exercised by Czermak, who
caused a cray-fish to stand on its head. They may
be due to disturbances either by exaltations or by
inhibitions of forces at the nerve centres. No physi-
ologist, however, could have anticipated the facts
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 291
before their actual discovery ; nevertheless, the facts,
even viewed merely as physical facts, enable us to
judge with some accuracy concerning those more
complex physical, nervous, mental actions, which
continually exhibit new fields for research in the
living and in the dying.
Second Step. — All things are known to be, more
or less, in a magnetic state — positive and negative.
Our earth is a great magnet. Every atom is a small
magnet The human body is an organic and a
psychological magnet. The forces of the universe
vary continually, positively and negatively, to effect
their different operations in producing phenomena,
adjusting them, elevating them, and in manifesting
the Eternal Power.
Third Step. — What is called " Spiritualism " may
be reduced to Materialism, seeing that its results are
effected by physical forces. Some persons possess a
marvellous influence ; of which, a larger number, are
in various degrees susceptible. Even medical men
and their students have had their own wills suspended ;
been made to assume ridiculous positions ; and to
perform strangest and what, in these men's usual
state, would be impossible actions.^ In this way we
obtain knowledge of what may be called " infatuating
powers," of existences prolonged ; incarnated so to
speak in new forms, new bodies ; carrying us to the
^ Dr. Heidenhain, in '* Animal Magnetism," states, " Most of my
experience is from experiments on Dr. Partsch, Assistant at the Surgical
Clinique ; Dr. Kroner, Assistant at the Gynaecological Clinique ;
Messrs. Beyer, Drewitz, Aug. Heidenhain, Poper Wallentin, Students
of Medicine ; and the wife of the laboratory servant."
292 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
borders of fearful abysses where madnesses in
deviltries may drive out all saner senses.
Fourth Step. — Symptoms of the magnetic or hyp-
notic state are a more or less marked increase or
diminution of consciousness. At times intensity of
force ; some memory, when but slightly acted on ; no
memory at all when greatly acted upon. There are
sensory perceptions, but these are not always pro-
ductive of conscious ideas ; just as any one, deeply
engaged in thought, pays no attention to other
events.
These four steps have brought us to a grander yet
somewhat analogous fact. Persons, in high spiritual
sacred excitement, respond to the Spirit of God ;
even as persons, under hypnotic or magnetic force,
are subject to the will of the operator. Sanctified
persons endeavour perfectly to obey their God ; and
the secularly magnetized are subjected to their
operator ; even as the sanctified act as God's children.
The enslaved by hypnotism, and with its continuance
being more and more degraded, are not to be less
blamed than pitied.
Thus something in material and mental nature
partially reflects and imitates the healing that takes
place in physical and spiritual nature. There is
something which brings into intelligible view the
psychological states of the prophets, of saints, of
healers. By these things, which we ourselves in part
control, we obtain a sufficient verifying aspect of that
Divine action by which some believers are enabled
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY, 293
to work faith healings for the body, and possess
special ministries of salvation for the soul of man.
Symbols in nature, laws in instinct, morality in
reason, carry us to the substantial and the eternal.
There are interesting facts about the origin of
diseases. Formerly every disease was new. In the
boyhood of our earth it is not likely that spring
water and new milk tended to gout, gastritis, or to
an overstrained liver. Without wine, beer, and ardent
liquids, men would be free from the maladies which
are caused by indulgence in them. Ground being
plentiful and game abundant there would not be
famine ; and the digging for roots and the catch-
ing of fish requiring much bodily exercise, the
diseases of sedentary existence would be unknown.
All living soberly, actively, healthfully, there would
be no inheriting of constitutional weakness. Civiliza-
tion brought the diseases of civilization.
Probably rheumatism would be as strange to
uncovered limbs, as " corns to unfettered toes," As
wants increased the need would grow for physicians.
With large use of paint came the painter's colic, and
when men did not over-much write there would be
no writer's cramp. In absence of worry, gambling
rage, anxiety of speculation, men's minds would be in
equilibrium. Without printing, their eyesight was
undisturbed by the small size of type and the con-
fusing colours of ink. The use of gothic type has
made half the German children near-sighted ; and
compositors, who have to pick out these complicated
letters, are compelled to use spectacles long before
294 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
age causes weakness of vision. Drunkenness, created
by craving for stimulants, which the will does not
sufficiently resist, is a malady that descends from
father to son, cursing many generations with untold
evils.
Diseases spring into existence, and multiply, and
become more complicated, as our habits show undue
pressure. Sores appeared on the hands and faces of
girls employed in counting ** greenbacks " in the
Treasury Department at Washington. The arsenic
in the colouring matter of the notes was carried by
the fingers of the enumerators to the delicate skin of
the cheeks. We are told of the morphia, the chloro-
dyne, the chloral, the chloroform, the cocaine, the
naphtha-fume habits, becoming persistent and incur-
able in those weak-minded persons of whom they take
possession. Dr. Gelle, a French physician, has called
attention to the Telephone Tintinitus. It is a nervous
excitability, with buzzing noises in the ear, giddiness,
and neuralgic pain, caused by aural over-pressure
through use of the telephone for many hours during
many days. The cure is perfect physiological rest.
Only those are afflicted whose organization is markedly
nervous. The electric light, in over use, causes in
some persons a special form of ophthalmia.
A curious sequel appeared in 1879 ^^d 1880 to the
Influenza epidemic. Cases of coma were reported in
Hungary, and thence spread to other parts. They
were an aftermath of Influenza. The victims fell
into a death-like trance, lasting about four days, out
of which the patient awoke in extreme exhaustion.
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 295
Recovery is very slow. In Italy it was called " La
Nona," "the falling-asleep" disease. Very rapid
deaths occurred, owing to cardiacal paralysis and
comatose attacks.
In the Sentinella Bresciana, reported in the
Standard newspaper (March 17, 1890), was a state-
ment that Drs. De Maria and Fontana had under
their care a young man who had been sleeping for
twenty days. He opened his eyes once every day
for a few moments, did not speak a word, and
immediately was fast asleep again. The youth is
stated to have been reduced to a terrible condition of
emaciation, and so pale that he might be supposed to
be dead, except for the slight respiration which was
observable.
To call these "The Aftermath of Influenza," is no
explanation ; nor have we any explanation of In-
fluenza itself. Whether it is malaria from the in-
undated lands of China, or any other specific poison,
we cannot tell ; and if we could tell ; why this or
that result, and not others, should be produced, would
still remain inexplicable. All known causes, all
antecedents, go back and back to the beginning of
time ; and then centre in Him who made Time by
Creation, and measured its portions by the motions
and durations of things.
In like manner, our remedies, our healing sciences,
are the product of experience as to the general effect
of certain things on other things. No one knows
why they should have special effects, why a spark
ignites gunpowder and does not ignite flour, why one
296 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
form of phosphorus is deadly and another health-
giving. It is owing to the constitution of things.
How long will that continue? Who gave that con-
stitution ? Cannot the Giver who gives discernment
to the chemist, the artist, and makes them as gods
among men, impart a spirit-power, a psychological
force, a penetrative possessing influence, to some
sacred minds by which, the hitherto unknown powers,
may work healing by means of faith? If the know-
ledge of nature works much, knowledge of God will
work more.
A sufficient number of verified fitting scientific
facts, are proof which carries hypothesis beyond doubt
into certainty. The healings wrought by our Lord,
and after Him by the Apostles, and after them by
men of our own time, in the presence of numerous
eye-witnesses, competent to judge, are to every sane
man, not infatuated by unbelief, a demonstration of
marvellous works.
** Wake up my soul to Thee, that I may live ;
All that I ask of Thee, Lord, Thou canst give.
Give me the heart to pray, give me the power,
"When I kneel down to Thee, hour by hour.'
Damon, Quoted in '* Daily Readings " by Elizabeth Spooner.
XXXV.
Jpurtfter Application of ^tkntt anli ^j^tlosopfig.
" Let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story.'*
Horatio says, '* 'Tis but our fantasy ;
And will not let belief take hold of him."
Hamlet^ Prince of Denmark^ act i. sc. I.
What do We Learn in the Pathway of Experience?
STRICT and most observant watch of nightly
darkness and of nature's daily toil ; the press
and impress of work to alleviate human want and
woe, which make men mingle day and night in cease-
less labour ; show in nature and in man a disturbing
power, controlled by a greater power, making, main-
taining, and renewing all. Dark matter is made
light on the earth, and to shine in the suns for use of
their attendant planets. Particles of substances, by
peculiar vibrations, awake into sound, warmth, and
brilliancy. The helpless, like that cripple from his
birth, who had never walked, are made to walk and
leap with joy. Everywhere in the heavens and earth,
the melting and passing away of elements are not for
( 297 )
298 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
their ending, but renewal. All things, even those
which seem opposed and destructive, serve and pre-
serve one another. It was so, it is so, it ever will be
so, until divinely altered. Eternity is in a moment,
and the infinite enters our smallest sensation.
"We might not this believe, without the sensible
and true avouch of our own eyes ; " but it is, though
seeming impossible, a fact which, stretches into the
gross and furthest scope of things, giving such strength
and renewal that graves stand tenantless, and the
sheeted dead live again. The slightest things, the
most trifling events, suggest ideas to the thinker, link
all that is, and extend the whole, like Homer's chain,
from earth to heaven.
What is It that We Discern in the Orderliness of
Nature ?
"Our trust in an all-pervading orderliness which,
makes the blast that rocks the tree, shake a different
world in every leaf," schools every sense in the beautiful
soul, and makes it become more beautiful. Orderli-
ness does not deaden our free will, nor benumb our
effort in the affairs of life. It is part of the orderliness
that there is something great to do. There is a
persistency and a consistency, called in science " the
conservation of energy," which will not allow the
wilful and godless man to obtain at last that pardon,
through fear of the devil, which would make Satan a
saviour.
It is, however, possible, seeing that the whole
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 299
universe concentrates In every atom, and all the past
and all the future meet even in a moment, for one,
like the dying thief, by a new experience, by exercise
of the never-withholden Divine grace, of a power yet
undestroyed, to receive light from the far-away who
comes near, and life from the Eternal who is not less
in the now than in the eternity which He alone
comprehends.
The undestroyed capacity of foretaste as to another
felicity, and of will, for Divine Service, is one of the
most interesting evidences of that great faculty in
man which makes him capable of higher work than
any yet rendered ; and of that unspeakable love with
which God accepts us, and of that infinite wisdom by
which He heals us. Something wonderful beyond
all wonderfulness, in science, and in Sacred Scripture,
** Bids the long ages flee
Of doubt, uncertainty, and strife ;
Gives back the ancient unity,
The love, the beauty, and the Ufe.
Reign of the wise and just,
Age of the good, the great, the true,
Through these thick clouds of smoke and dust
We calmly wait for you."
It is a great part towards our individual spiritual
and physical healing that we really acquaint our-
selves with w^hat we profess to know. We talk
of the Holy Spirit sanctifying, but have we the
witness in ourselves that we are sanctified } We
speak of knowing Jesus as the Saviour, but are we
assured that He is our Saviour? can we say, "He
died to save me ? " We read of being born again, of
300 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
being converted — can every one say, " I am a child of
God ? " The faith we ought to have is a sure firm
trust Hke that of St. Paul—" I live, yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. ii. 20).
Give God all the glory of whatever is in man. There
is no power in nature, no power in us, except as
divinely given ; and mercy comes through the Blood
of Jesus ; therefore we pray for all —
" Lord, all-pitying, Jesu blest,
Grant them Thine eternal rest."
The loss certainly is infinite if all our life we turn
from and neglect the love of God. That loss can
never become other than a loss though Divine
Wisdom may prevent it passing into utter ruin ; and
we thank the Almighty that the orderliness of nature,
as discerned by science and revealed in Scripture, so
rules king and peasant, so governs the millions of our
race, so takes part in the discipline of life, that it fits
us all for progress, if we will, into higher degrees of
service. St. Paul who healed the impotent man at
Lystra, and the healed man himself; Elisha who
recovered Naaman, and Naaman who was recovered ;
passed into greater strength by healing and being
healed. Those who talk of the wearisomeness, stale-
ness, and unprofitableness of things, could make even
this present life a sphere of realization for any prizes,
worth all life's struggles. The grand old world is in
every part of it linked to the indestructible ; the
secrets of it and of God may be so known that
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 301
elevated feelings shall drive all shadows from the
soul, kindle enthusiasm into a holy virtue, and make
nature the groundwork for a Building of God eternal
in the heavens.
Do WE Learn from Experience and from Nature's
Orderliness that Supernatural Cures are Per-
formed ?
Every physician is aware that the saving of life,
and the sinking away by death, cannot always be
ascribed to human skill, or to the failure of drugs.
Sudden changes, for better and for worse, come
unlooked for. Rallyings of strength, or loss of power,
renew life, or sentence to death, beyond the hope and
fear of practitioner and patient. Cancers, tumours,
consumptions, and other fatal diseases, have been
removed in a way that set at naught all human skill.
Broken bones, joined in less than twenty-four hours
in answer to prayer, show that all things are possible
to God.
Objection.
We are told, "the age of miracles is past."
There is no warrant for that saying. The Pharisees
declared of our Lord — " This fellow doth not cast
out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of devils '*
(Matt. xii. 24). They spoke in savageness and lied ;
for it was not possible that the flash and outbreak
of Satan could find place or shape in Christ, the
form of God (Phil. ii. 6). Men would fain deny
302 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
that which is, and explain that which is not : their
false explanations do not enlighten but befool the
mind.
There is in nature, and specially in man, a power
subtler than material force, mightier than regiments
of armed men, which fills our mind with holy aspira-
tions, and strews our path with things to love. Were
we to translate this knowledge into the art and part
of doing good, in little things and great, we should
always be able to raise common things into a higher
region, and find that there is really a universal work-
ing toward some universal result ; that some good
men know secrets as to what is about to happen ; see
possibilities and realities of a higher region and a
higher good ; that there is a day dawning that will
not deepen into night ; everything big with wit and
instruction.
We will Try to Find the Instruction.
Imagination, strong thought, wishing, willing, are a
great power in science. Sensations require a certain
strength of stimulation, if you get lower than the
lowest thinking force, there will still be sensation,
though you feel it not. Imagination, however, is
sometimes so vivid that unfelt sensations are actually
felt by it, and become a very joy, or a very torment.
In some diseases a man is so dead and yet alive, that
deep pricks with a needle are not felt ; while gentle
stroking with a camel's-hair brush are perceived.
Thus, and in similar ways, we learn of nature's efforts
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY, 303
to make nature right ; and if we begin to practise
the same natural art we, ourselves, may be healers
too.
Besides imagination, thought, wishing, willing, are
other forces. Dr. Rudolf Heidenhain gently stroked
once or twice along Dr. Kroner's bent right arm, at
once it became stiff. Other muscles, other members,
can be acted on in like manner. The effects are
similar to states produced by catalepsy. This shows
how easy it was for our Lord, with His Divine know-
ledge and power, to work every kind of healing.
Unusual forces may be communicated to any part
of the body which shall restrain or even take away
the usual forces. One individual may be the slave
of another, as were that other a master demon. This
throws fresh light upon various marvellous occurrences.
It warrants belief that if our better powers, holiness,
faith, love, obedience, were thoroughly studied and
exercised they would bring the whole man, and the
whole life, into union with God. There might be
men among us, great or greater than the Apostles,
men in whom Christ so dwells that His works are
visibly done by them. There are realities within our
reach that believing hands may always grasp, and be
led on continually to higher service.
There is need that sound-mindedness be preserved,
lest we endeavour beyond our faith, and so go beyond
our powers, as did the Apostles when they attempted
and failed to heal the lunatic boy (Matt. xvii. 15, 21).
There are two safeguards : Forgiveness of sin, con-
sciousness of it being verified by the making of your
304 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
life free from wilful sin ; and the Gift of the Holy
Ghost, proved by that soundness of mind which pre-
serves you from acting independently of the Divine
Will.
A man, thus safe-guarded, becomes part of Jesus,
who took part with him. His soul is stamped with
the Divine Image ; he is one with Christ, and Christ
with him. Such a man will discern what others have
no senses for, and possess powers to which they come
not nigh. He will do in his sphere what scientific
men do in theirs. The scientific man's imagination
goes below the number of sixteen vibrations to the
second, at which we begin to hear ; and, not hearing,
will be fit for investigation as if he heard ; and will
speculate wisely as to the finer perceptions of other
creatures. He learns artificially to quicken the heart-
beats ; and that functional disturbances are due to
changed conditions of the central organs of the
nervous system — the brain and spinal cord. He
finds that some men easily excite those nervous
centres, others cannot ; some men are very susceptible
of excitement, others are not susceptible ; and that
the same operators and operations do not always
produce the same effects. The processes are said to
be through decrease and prevention, or by increase,
of activity in the ganglion cells of the cerebral cortex.
That is no explanation. It is like saying " you raise
your hand because you will raise it:" nevertheless,
experienced men use these unknown things and
forces to overcome mental maladies and to heal
physical diseases. Not greatly unlike is that operation
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY, 305
by which men in union with Christ use the powers
of Christ against unclean spirits ; " and to heal all
manner of sickness and all manner of disease "
(Matt. X. i).
Some scientific men concentrate every power of
body and mind to prevent evil and advance good.
They are recipients of gifts for various scientific
administrations. They are workers for God. They
are, in physical and physiological research, what
gifted converted men are in the researches and
ventures of faith. Sometimes men of science fail.
Sometimes men of faith fail. The errors of both are
due to want of more accurate knowledge. In nature,
and in use of Divine grace, ignorance, weakness, and
self-will are the causes of all error. Ignorance,
weakness, and self-will behave unseemly, are apt to
vaunt, and be puffed up. Forgetting that there are
differences of gifts and diversities of administrations,
we are liable, in science, to confound mental and
material processes as were they mostly the same.
We do not sufficiently discriminate between the
physical defect and the mental or moral error.
Philosophers, aiming at the abstract, sometimes also
forget that we only know mind in connection with
matter, and only know of matter so far as we are
instructed by mind.
The wisest men see that the universe is not so
much mechanism, as an organism ; and not so much
an organism, as something more and better than
both. Having many of the attributes of each, with
others at present only in partial use, it rises into a
X
3o6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
higher scale of being than either through great
enlargement of each. With motions, other and more
than mechanical ; with life, other and more than
physical ; with arrangements, other and more than
sentient ; there is advance into the mental, into the
voluntary, into the emotional, into the moral, into the
responsible. In every particle of the world, in all
the worlds, there is a moving power with an inward
stimulation so that things are as they are, that they
may become something else. A Power forgiving our
sins, healing our diseases, and enabling us to become
all we can that is best.
The scientific man lays hold of the outward sub-
stances and forces of the worlds ; the philosophical
man apprehends the external arrangements and pur-
poses of things ; the religious man, uniting the
strength and wisdom of both, is in personal union
with the indwelling, presiding, eternal Power. Christ,
God and man, unites the Creator with the creature ;
and informs the creature with a Divine Personal
Presence. Men like St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John,
have many gifts, including those of healing. Other
men find, and will find, that abiding in Christ as He
abode in God, marvellous signs accompany them and
follow them. These are signs of the real and material
things which prove and approve our faith. They are
harbingers, coming from heaven and earth, telling of
a nobler science, and of a grander philosophy, yet to
come.
Our hints, scientific, philosophic, religious, are a
base on which every prudent man may erect that
APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 307
superstructure of reasonable faith which brings good
hope, and nerves him to pray concerning the future
account :
** Dear Lord ! remember in that day
Who was the cause Thou cam'st this way ;
Thy sheep was strayed ; and Thou wouldst be
E'en lost Thyself in seeking me.
" Shall all that labour, all that cost
Of love, and e'en that loss, be lost ?
And this lov'd soul judged worth no less
Than all that way and weariness ?
"Just Mercy, then, Thy reckoning be
With my price, and not with me ;
'Twas paid at first with too much pain.
To be paid twice, or once in vain."
Part of Celano' s Great Hymn {died about 1255).
Translated by Richard Crashaw, 1646.
XXXVI.
CCon&itions of ^otoer as to Jpaitft^f^ealing*
** So are prepared, as one would think,
A race of men, right manfully to do
The work of life."
Rev. John Godson, Eirene, or Peace on Earth,
MAN is a miniature of nature. An abridgment
as to the whole ; but, in intensity of mental
power, an enlargement as to every other creature.
He is a being, as the stones are beings ; but partakes
of motion, as the stars ; and is sentient, as the
animals, but vastly more intellectual than they. He
is lower, but like the angels in knowledge ; and as a
maker, a ruler, a moral existence, is a symbol of God.
He is not as one of those lakes, which have no outlet ;
is not a mere glass, in which other things are only
reflected ; he receives as a reservoir, but puts that
which is received from nature to higher use. He
makes and remakes it in other shapes. He causes it
to serve future and greater purposes in art and science.
He uplifts his material strength by spiritual power,
and is a poet, an artist, a discoverer. He makes
things new, even himself in wish, in thought, in
( 308 )
CONDITIONS OF POWER AS TO FAITH-HEALING. 309
action ; and intelligently takes part with nature and
Avith God in that universal process by which all
things, all worlds, pass into other states and further
conditions. The wise man, the good man, is a healer.
We do not overpraise man. He is small, yet the
very head and heart of our earth as to intelligence
and feeling. In him all sides of matter, of spirit, and
of responsibility, mingle to form one person. He
balances, sways, and judges all things. Because of
him ships go down to the sea, overcome wind and
wave, to bring treasures from afar. He possesses
present and future possibilities of existence which are
beyond all imagining. Were all nature, at this
moment struck immovable ; and the sun to rest sus-
pended ; and rivers cease to flow ; and tides cease to
roll ; and all men be dead ; we should, we are sure,
live in a better world in complete and supreme happi-
ness, to such glorious destiny does the high service
of God in Christ, and Christ in man, bring all the
faithful. We feel it, we know it, our spirit blends
consciously with Him who is from eternity. Our
intellect grasps the law of things, goes beyond the
things visible and invisible, intelligent and unin-
telligent, to the Being of beings, and rests in His
immeasurable grandeur. St. Paul, an example to us,
said, " I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me '* (Phil. iv. 13).
Man appeared in nature when its might and beauty
were prevalent, as if the perfection of that was but
his beginning. Of him also, in fulness of time, came
that other beginning, that infancy and infant, the
3IO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Babe of Bethlehem. The holiness of that Babe
turned the Shadow of the Cross into splendour. His
resurrection threw open the Gates of the Grave. His
ascension brought us unto, and through the Portals
of Heaven. His enthroning made Immortality the
great truth of our destiny.
Every infant is represented in that one Infant.
Every man is naturally represented in that first
Man ; and all men are naturally expanded so as to
be supernaturally and spiritually represented in the
second Man, who lived and died for the whole world.
Whosoever receives that second Man, Jesus, into his
own heart and mind, in nature, in person, in destiny,
becomes a son of God. A life of humiliation con-
forms him to the humility of Jesus. Crucifixion of
the flesh, of the corruptible, gives him resurrection in
the incorruptible, in the renewed life of Jesus. In
fulness of time, because of timely service, he will carry
that service beyond time, and ascend the everlasting
throne of Jesus. Of such men, and not of the
Apostles only, Jesus declared, " Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that
I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these
shall he do; because I go unto My Father" (John
xiv. 12).
Jesus not only heals men and makes them great,
He enables them to heal and make others great. He,
who wrought so many miracles of healing, gave the
same signs to follow those who should afterwards
believe, and they did follow (Mark xvi. 18, 20).
The healing process is twofold : the saving of the
CONDITIONS OF POWER AS TO FAITH-HEALING. 311
body, the salvation of the soul. It separates the good
from the bad, and shows what both are. The good,
act as Christ acted ; do that which makes other men
show their true selves ; the tree good and his fruit
good, or the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. St.
Peter gave an example of this power, when he
declared concerning the impotent man, " By the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this
man stand before you whole " (Acts iv. 10). By this
same name, and with like power, are men now con-
verted, are men now healed. The healing, at present
is wrought individually, as a drop here and there ;
but soon a plentiful shower of grace and blessing
will come to refresh the whole earth (Hab. ii. 13, 14).
What are the conditions of power as to this great
healing t
The qualifying conditions for reception of power to
heal are strong faith, fervent love, and surrender of
the whole man to God. There must be subjection
to the Holy Word ; union with the true Church ;
witness, of the Spirit as to membership in Christ ;
sound mindedness so that thought and motive, being
and doing, through abiding in Christ, are responsive
to His will, and prepare the soul adequately to
receive, and rightly to use, the gift. When this high
spiritual state crowns due mental activity and clear-
ness, and the Lord inquires, "Are ye able to drink
of My Cup, and be baptized with My Baptism ? '' our
deliberate, loving reply is, " Lord, by Thy help, we are
able." Then the Lord confers those graces and gifts
312 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
which we require for due performance of our functions
as members of Christ's Body. Our soul becomes as
an open scroll, on which are written the marvels of
an everlasting Will ; and these marvels, " like truths
of science waiting to be caught," open inward, and
God within lights all our face.
The governing conditions of the power to heal are
that wisdom in our faith which asks according to the
will of God ; and that power proportionately to under-
stand, according to the analogy of faith, the truths
which are set forth by the gift conferred. Then that
completeness and well balancing of character with
the trials and temptations, accompanying the gifts,
will be added to strengthen them and enlarge the
believer into perfection. It will be further found that
right-mindedness, fired with zeal, is a ruling condition
for the performance of good and durable religious
work ; and for prevalence in prayer as to enlargement
of capacity to receive and use any heavenly gift.
This right-mindedness takes us away from faith in
our own faith to faith in Christ: that is, into full
belief as to His truth and power ; puts us in posses-
sion of them, makes us sons of God (John i. 12).
*' What more near to God, more like
To God, than such a life ? Blessing and blessed ! "
The conditions for use of any gift are not fastidious-
ness, as to what we eat and drink ; not the living in
guilds, as sisters or brothers ; not a disposition to
sadness rather than gladness; "heaven opens in-
ward." Useless vexation and worry consume force,
and propagate a deteriorating influence. Pleasurable
CONDITIONS OF POWER AS TO FAITH-HEALING. 313
sensations, rising from the sense of forgiveness, and
of union with God through Christ, impart a good
tone, well keep up the brain, and act most beneficially
while conveying a delicious consciousness of latent
power. At such times, though the body may be
sinking under dire disease, the soul will soar aloft.
Much of the noblest work is done at times when,
though hands hang down through weakness and pain,
the soul is verily present with the Lord. Prayer
should not be a murmur ; nor an attempt to make
our will God's will, instead of His will ours ; but be
used as something divinely appointed to foreshorten
the tract of time, and hasten the crescent promises
of ancient Inspiration. When we are most like Jesus,
according to our place and work in the Body of
Christ, our personality is carried to highest attain-
ment, our character is stamped, elevated in style, and
our labour made to prosper, in
** The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill."
Having thought of the qualifying, the governing,
the practical conditions of faith-healing, remember
that present gifts and graces are earnests of greater
possessions in this world and in that to come.
The cheerfulness and strength imparted by this
conviction soon render the poorest home cleanly
and bright ; raise low conditions by diligence and
economy ; give that holy sort of mental culture which,
strengthening the whole man, shows well in contrast
with the victims of vice. Such a person lives with
more purpose, day by day, strives to know the reason
314 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
of things. He takes the thing, or things, most adverse
to him before God : if those are not amendable, other
things will be ; or he will know the wherefore. He
is not in continual fright as to body or soul. He
ventures, but only in that assurance of faith and
sound-mindedness which, being God-guided, never
fails. He is a man, like St. Paul, who makes even
the thorn in the flesh a delight and an advantage to
the spirit. He is a man in whom God lives, for
whom Christ died, whom the Divine Spirit teaches.
He will not lack any good thing ; nor can anything
that God's power, wisdom, love, should effect, be
impossible to that man. There is no inward cancelling
of senses misused. His powers are well exercised in
the noble deeds which overcome the world, the flesh,
the devil. He cannot have a better preparation for
the future life. All things being made possible to
him, the highest dignity assured to him, as son of
God, he is most nobly introduced amongst the angels.
He has been healed of sin and all weakness. He has
been a helper and healer of other, his wayfarers to
Heaven. He is assured, as to possession in the new
life, of those most excellent things which surpass all
understanding.
** But oh ! Thou bounteous Giver of all good,
Thou art of all Thy gifts Thyself the crown !
Give what Thou canst,— without Thee we are poor ;
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away."
C(riVper.
XXXVII.
Fnt'fpfng of Bt'bine pealing.
" He giveth power to the faint ; and to them that have no might He
increaseth strength." — Is A. xl. 29.
" Somewhere in the grief help for the grief is hidden. On the Divine
side of sorrow, seek consolation for the sorrow in new relations to God,
with fuller interpretations and larger uses for man." — Anon.
ALL truths are bound together, and are number-
less as the worlds : they comprise the Works
of God, and the Words of God, representative of the
Divine Nature. They form one splendid reality vast
as the universe and vaster : for they mean all that
universe, and the Creator of it.
The power of God in truths and things may best
be discerned, not so much in the great and terrible, as
"in the meek loveliness spread around us in softness
still and holy." His goodness, to embrace us, slides
down by thrills through all creation, entering eye and
ear and heart in every place. His goodness and
beauty, being thus around us ; He gives power to the
faint, and increase of strength to them who have no
might ; so that His goodness restores us to Paradise,
( 315 )
3i6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
and we have in ourselves example and proof of that
Divine Healing which brings salvation to man and to
nature. Life is stronger far than death, and will
reign for ever.
*'The changing seasons, ever coming, going,
Like four Evangelists, His praise record ;
Nature, herself, is but a verger showing
The silent, glorious temple of the Lord."
Lord Tennyson,
God, of whom we thus know, is that Infinite, who
occupies infinitude ; that Eternal, of whose Life
eternity is the symbol ; that Almighty Wisdom,
whom the worlds represent. He would be hidden
and unknowable, were not the invisible things of His
Godhead clearly seen by the things that are made
(Rom. i. 20).
How can we know surely that He giveth power to
the faint ; and that to them who have no might He
increaseth strength?
We know it by creation. There was a time when
not one of the many worlds now in existence could
be found. Themselves, the things in them, and their
laws, began in a state altogether different from the
present. Scripture assures us of this, and science
declares it as one of the greatest truths. When no
world was, not even a chaos, but all weak, shapeless,
barren ; God, with His strength, made things ; in
wisdom, shaped them ; in great wealth, rendered
them fruitful ; thus, to them that were not. He gave
power to be ; increased that strength that they might
continue, and be very beautiful in the warmth of life
and in brightness of intelligence.
VERIFYING OF DIVINE HEALING. 317
This greatest of all proofs, because a universal fact,
is not so vast that we are unable to grasp it. In
fact, we lay by the side of it, so to speak, another
proof which we gather from the future. It is this ;
no particle of matter, however small ; no life, though
so little that we cannot see it ; no force, even if it be
unfelt ; perishes. They are all carried on, moment
by moment, into something else, somewhere else ;
and reappear as by a resurrection after they seem to
be dead.
Thus that grandeur of proof, which almost terrified
us by its vastness filling the universe, is now before
our eyes stamped into everything, more specially in
ourselves, as a message from the Eternal. He giveth
power to us when we faint, and when we have no
might He increaseth strength, enabling every one of
us to say, " Because He lives, I shall live also ; " and
this truth of the world of life repeats itself within the
spirit world.
The truth filling the universe in its grandeur, and
embracing all in goodness, so that not one little thing
is passed by, greatly consoles us ; it is the light and
life of men.
Elihu, of old, spoke of it — " God my Maker, who
giveth songs in the night . . . teacheth us more than
the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the
fowls of heaven" (Job xxxv. 10, 11 ; xxxvii. 2-13 ;
xlii. 2). Indeed, God is all in all to us. His Life
lives in us, and will live for ever and ever. He is the
truth and power of our manhood in the natural
frame ; making all our race of one fellowship. He is
3i8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Divine Life and wisdom in our vital and moral
existence ; so that if we do not depart from Him,
all is well. We go from good to greater good,
from high to higher. There is always new life before
us, a continual healing, even a fresh living when
we die. All is well ! " Even through the hollow
eyes of death," our greatest poet says, " I spy life
peering."
The triple truth in the universe, as a whole ; in
every part of it ; and specially as to men ; may be
further proved by Holy Scripture.
The healing process appears first in the promise of
a Saviour (Gen. iii. 15). The essence of it is a
supernatural healing working in nature and more
abundantly in men. The Patriarchs were told of it,
and tell us of it, in the divine gift of all nations to
Abraham that they may be blessed in him (Gen. xii.
1-3 ; xxvi. 3 ; xxviii. 13, 14). The Deliverance of
Israel from Egypt, and the Giving of the Law, are
by the same God, the Healer (Exod. xv. 26). The
Prophets make plain that the splendour of the Temple
and the Sacrifices prepare for that greater healing by
the Gospel, when God's glory shall cover all lands
(Hab. ii. 14) ; and all nations be brought unto God's
great city (Rev. xxi. 26). The whole centres in Jesus,
the Incarnate Son of God ; whose Birth, Life, Death,
Resurrection, Ascension, are the means by which the
elements of nature, our own flesh, mind, and will, are
so taken into the Person of the Eternal Son ; that all
things, and we with them, are to be glorified (Rom.
viii. 20-22).
VERIFYING OF DIVINE HEALING. 319
** Hark ! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers :
* Prepare the way ! a God, a God appears ! '
* A God, a God ! ' the vocal hills reply ;
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity."
Alexander Pope,
A man's and a nation's religion is the chief fact
about them. The thing they feel, believe, act upon,
as to their duty now, and their life to come. The fact
that we are God-made men, God-preserved men, is a
reality grand enough, when pressed into the heart, to
make the very poorest drudge a hero. It is pressed
into the hearts of millions, and they are so healed as
to be delivered from all their troubles, and made able
to live for ever. Even those who will not come to
Christ, know that our Faith declares plainly as to our
little present life that we are but ^'portals of our-
selves," we reach upward high as Heaven, and down-
ward low as Hell. Even wicked men feel in their
heart, it is better to rise to the one than sink to the
other : the one is Life eternal, the other is Death
eternal. Our minds yield richer store of nobler,
greater beauty the truer and higher as we look ; and
more awful wonders when we plunge to seek in
depths unlimited.
The teaching and work of Jesus, when understood
and acted upon, enable a man to attain all worth ;
when not acted on, a man goes down to all worthless-
ness. This, that so ennobles us, rests on the invisible ;
not only as the real but the only reality, because it
abides every moment in the eternal ; and this resting
on and in the eternal tells of everything — *' The work
is all Divine." Science, all the sciences endeavour to
320 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
go into the deep infinitude which they can never
fathom, but will ever try to fathom. Things known
are but a film on the illimitable ocean ; and nature,
vast as it is, becomes to every one who rightly thinks
of it a miracle ; and we, ourselves, are a miracle — the
miracle of God ; and thus are a proof, of ourselves
and in ourselves, of the great work which He is
doing.
That Book of Job is a grand book, one of the most
ancient books in the world. A book for all time, for
all men. It is the oldest statement of that wonderful
problem : man's ways and destiny, God's ways and
providence. It is simple for the meek and under-
standing heart. It is a parable of God and Satan ;
of good and evil ; of Divine purpose conquering,
healing, the maladies of nature and the diseases of
men. It is a summary of Providence. So true is it,
so plain is it, that the man of clear eyesight, and a
vision discerning good and evil, enters the repose of
reconcilement with God ; and is so healed, as Job was,
that his latter end is better than the beginning ; for
all things material, all things spiritual, are healed and
made sublime in God. The true becomes the real ;
shams, lies, are the rubbish to be burned that, if there
is any gold in it, the gold may be found.
The great mystery of existence, and of good and
evil glares upon us with its terrors, and beams in its
splendours. We look through the shows of things
into the things themselves ; and thus learn of our-
selves, that " they are wealthy who are rich within."
Through our trials, our sufferings, our work, we gaze
VERIFYING OF DIVINE MEALING, 321
into what they mean : that Creation is the shadow of
God ; that the laws of the world are representative of
greater laws ; that these laws and Creation co-operate
in God's great Healing Purpose. This Healing Pur-
pose now is only as a beam of light crossing the
infinite, but soon we shall know fully the Divine Idea
itself; which puts it within the power of every one
who will to rise, even from what seems Death and
Hell, unto the Highest Heaven ; for He is God who
gives ** power to the faint ; and to them that have no
might . . . increaseth strength."
** Therefore we come, Thy gentle call obeying,
And lay our sins and sorrows at Thy feet ;
On everlasting strength our weakness staying,
Clothed in Thy robe of righteousness complete :
Then rising and refresh'd we leave Thy throne.
And follow on to know as we are known. "
H, Z. Z.
XXXVIII.
iWoiem (JBxperunct as to jpait6c|^ealing.
" I wish above all things that thou may est prosper and be in health,
even as thy soul prospereth." — 3 John 2.
** Christ's thought and power are reflected in the thought and power
of every true Christian ; even as every natural flower is the reflection
of a spiritual on the other side. " — Scrap Book,
General and Particular Examples of Divine
Healing.
MOST devout men know, by actual experience
and by the reliable testimony of others, that
certain periods of their lives are the scene of physical,
mental, and moral healings — not less than miraculous.
These good times are as those brightnesses when
the sun hangs for an hour golden in the west as if
just to show how glorious he can be.
Our own personal experience extends to things
which cannot be fully explained as parts of an un-
guided and merely material course. Their time,
order, and continuity were so welded together as to be
certainly providential. There is no mingle-mangle,
nor is there present completeness, in any man's life.
( 322 )
MODERN EXPERIENCE AS TO FAITH-HEALING, 323
The infiniteness, about and within, by which the
thoughtful person thinks of a thousand universes, and
finds them all too narrow for his universality ; or
concentrates in a luminous point, or bright moment,
the great extent and manifold movements of a large
city, or the myriad desires, labours, and events of a
whole life ; show that life to be a part in some vast
process where is no unheeded portion, and prove that
man's mind to be in relation with the Power and
Wisdom guiding all, completing all.
Pass to that which others know. A lady, daughter
of a clergyman, the assistant minister of a church,
in which the writer for some time rendered service,
was immediately raised, by the effect of earnest
prayer, from a state in which she could neither
stand, nor walk, to perfect health. She came down
from her chamber, partook of food, and without
relapse lived several years. This happened some
time before the late revival of assurance as to faith-
healing.
An interesting fact is related of the Rev. Henry
Venn, About six months before his death, he left
the Rectory of Yelling, and settled at Clapham near
his son. His health rapidly failed, and he was often
on the brink of the grave. His medical friend, Pear-
son, observed that Mr. Venn's mind was so elated at
the prospect of death, that it actually proved a
stimulus to life. On one occasion some fatal symp-
toms were observed, and Mr. Venn said, *' Surely
these are good symptoms } " Mr. Pearson replied,
" Sir, in this state of joyous excitement you cannot
32| THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
die!" At length, on the 24th of June, 1797, at the
age of seventy-three, his happy spirit was released.
Thousands of men and women have received
answers to prayer, deliverances, and healing comforts,
which exceeded the natural order. They prove that
prayer for all sorts and conditions of men, and our
general thanksgiving for mercies vouchsafed, are
representative of power, and of not less actual gifts.
Dr. Lloyd Tuckey, in a number of the Nineteenth
Century Review, gave a graphic account of what he
had seen at Nancy, Amsterdam, and other places.
There are well-known Orphan Institutions, Philan-
thropic and Mission Works, maintained by means of
prayer to God without solicitation to man. The
Miiller Orphanage, at Bristol, has thus been supported
during more than fifty years. Mr. George Miiller
wrote, from Darjeeling, that since the Sth of March,
1834, he had received ;^i, 194,415 os. o\d. There are,
he stated, 5986 pupils in sixty-six schools. No debts
are contracted, no goods taken on credit, no appeal is
made for contributions.
We thus learn that there is more in everything
than we can see, "that amaze indeed the very facul-
ties of eyes and ears." Within every man's thought is
a greater thought. Within every man's character is
that which may make it higher, or carry it lower. In
all outer relations and circumstances is a deeper and
a higher, a vaster and a wider, the natural everywhere
touching the supernatural, and the common shaking
hands with miracles many.
M. Henri Lasserre, author of a very beautiful
MODERN EXPERIENCE AS TO FAITH-HEALING, 325
French translation of the Holy Gospels, was greatly
afflicted with sore eyes, producing blindness. Listen-
ing to the suggestion of M. de Freycinet, he used
water from the Lourdes Grotto : his eyes became
suddenly well. He wrote a charming narrative of
this and other marvels. He has since published a
translation of the Gospels, so much required by the
French people, that in one year it passed through
twenty-five editions. It was blessed by the Pope,
received Imprimatur of the Archbishop of Paris, but
now, alas ! the so-called " Sacred Congregation,"
fearing that those Gospels will alienate the people
from Romish observances, have condemned and
suppressed the translation. It is to be hoped that
Lasserre will not be daunted, nor turned aside from
any work God gives him to do ; but always say as
did Robert Browning —
" I have looked to Thee from the beginning,
Straight up to Thee through all the world,
Which like an idle scroll lay furled,
To nothingness on either side,
And since the day Thou wast so descried,
Spite of the weak heart, so have I
Lived ever, and so fain would die,
Living and dying, Thee before."
Christmas Eve.
A dignitary of our own Church, the Rev. Canon
Basil Wilberforce, has written in reply to many
inquiries, as to his own personal experience, " I have
no shadow of doubt that I was healed by the Lord's
blessing upon His own word recorded in St. James
V. 15, 16; but, as in so many other cases, there was
sufficient margin of time, and possibility of change of
326 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
tissue, between the anointing and the recovery, to
justify the sceptic in disconnecting the two ; and,
therefore, my own experience has been of more value
in strengthening my own faith than in the direction
of public testimony. I can only say that my internal
ailment was of such a nature that leading surgeons
declared it to be incurable except at the cost of a
severe operation, which leading physicians thought
me unable at the time to endure with safety. While
endeavouring at the seaside to gain strength for the
operation, the passage, St. James v. 15, 16, was im-
pressed with indescribable force upon my mind. I
resisted it, and reasoned with myself against it for
two months. I even came up to London, and settled
in a house near the eminent surgeon that I might
undergo the operation, but the spiritual pressure
increased until at last I sent for elders, men of God,
full of faith, by whom I was prayed over and anointed,
and in a few weeks the internal ailment passed
entirely away. ' This was the Lord's doing, and it is
marvellous in mine eyes.* . . . The immediate effect
upon myself was an influx of spiritual joy and com-
plete rest in the Lord's Will. I was not conscious at
the time of any physical change, and it was only
quite gradually, after several weeks, that the internal
trouble slowly healed and passed entirely away." —
The faith and healing of this man are precious to
many besides himself He was no fugitive from life's
duties, nor a man of cloistered faith. It was not
the healing of a recluse nor of an ascetic ; but
of one who knows the world, the ways of men in
MODERN EXPERIENCE AS TO FAITH-HEALING. zi']
it, who has proved all things, and holds fast that
which is good. He knows —
"God's in His Heaven :
All's right with the world."
The Rev. George Morris says — " I cannot but be
assured that ministers of Christ and Church-workers
whose daily life is a constant activity of mind and
body in numerous pledged engagements, on the un-
failing discharge of which so much of the deepest
needs of others continually depend, need scarcely
ever allow even great suffering, or natural peril from
their condition, to interfere with their regular work,
provided they act simply in faith in our Lord." ^ We
add, it is not every one who can receive this ; and no
man should thus venture unless firmly persuaded in
his own mind ; if not of faith, it will be a sin. It is
impossible to read the cases of healing recorded by
Mr. Morris and not for a man of faith to know that
the power of God was displayed. The experience of
the Rev. W. E. Boardman,^ of the Rev. A. B. Simp-
son,^ the remarkable life and works of Dorothea
Trudel,^ are a testimony not to be disregarded by
any sound-minded person. They are proof that the
prayer of faith saves the sick, and that the Lord raises
them up.
The Rev. James Thomas Butlin, B.A., and Scholar
1 **Our Lord's Permanent Healing Office in His Church : " Intro-
duction 2. (Elliot Stock.)
2 " The Lord that Healeth Thee." (J. Snow & Co.)
3 ''The Gospel of HeaHng." (J. Snow & Co.)
* " Dorothea Trudel ; or, The Prayer of Faith." (Morgan & Scott.J
328 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Vicar of St.
Clement's Parish, Nechells, Birmingham, was miracu-
lously cured of brain congestion ; and his wife was
not less marvellously healed of an internal disease of
twelve years* duration. His experience, during many
years, extends to scores of cases. The diseases were
of various kinds ; and, not a few of them, surgical
cases. The spiritual was far greater than the temporal
blessing, though the latter was like a resurrection.^
This gentleman stated that a woman was healed of
two such dangerous tumours that the Surgeons of the
Hospital would not operate, fearing that she could not
live through the operation. She is now well. He
further states, " I have known scarlet fever to leave
within an hour or two of offering prayer. I have
known bones to return to their true position after
being for long out of place. Heart disease, dropsy,
scalds, wounds, have all been healed in my experience.
Cancer has been healed ; and in some cases, where it
has not been healed, it has lost all its terrors, and the
pains have entirely ceased ; though the patient has
lived, perhaps, six months after taking the case to
the Lord." 2
" I say the acknowledgment of God in Christ,
Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee
All questions in the world and out of it.**
Robert Browning,
All cases are not healed. There are notorious
deceivers, manufacturers of spurious miracles. Man's
wickedness ought not to render our faith void. The
* Letter to the Author, October i, 1889. « Ibid.
MODERN EXPERIENCE AS TO FAITH-HEALING. 329
answer may not come when and how the faith and
prayers of true worshippers would have it ; but in
these cases God means to give more and better of
another sort than that is asked. The love which
knows the need of all creatures will certainly provide
for them. There must be struggle, privation, and
probation, that patience may work perfection by
experience.
It is no real objection that those who heal others
sometimes remain themselves unhealed ; and not a
few die early. It was said of our Lord, " He saved
others. Himself He cannot save." Of old time,
" women received their dead raised to life again," but
they themselves died. Men who " stopped the
mouths of lions and quenched the violence of fire,"
were at times " destitute, afflicted, tormented." The
Apostles and early Christians laid hands on the sick,
recovering them ; but did not always themselves
receive deliverance. The power is not in man, but
in God. The fact is we must every one go right
down to our own work and do it not less patiently
than diligently, not less in sorrow, if needs be,
than in joy. Those we call the lower graces com-
plete the higher. Possibly, when lowest we are
highest
Did our faith need confirmation concerning Divine
Healing, science reveals analogous processes, not less
mysterious. The Rev. Albert Warren stated, in the
Standard newspaper, May 28, 1890, that within his
own experience he knew of marvellous healings by
means of mesmerism, or hypnotism.
330 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
"A woman, fifty-eight years of age, cured of almost
total deafness of fifty years' standing.
" Cure of white swelling or housemaid's knee.
" Instances of painless operation, both in the con-
scious and unconscious state.
" Cure of a little girl, the daughter of one of my
parishioners, of a severe form of St. Vitus's dance."
He states, " In addition to these, I have constantly
removed minor aches and pains, and, for the most
part, almost instantaneously."
Within our body is a central motor mechanism
used for carrying out definite movements. It is in
connection with other centres which are stimulated
by the nerves of the eye, of the ear, of the palate, and
of the muscles of the skin, so as to give rise to certain
changes. These changes, when consciousness is main-
tained, lead to ideas of the particular movements.
When consciousness is absent, the changes only
stimulate the relative motor mechanism, and the
resulting movement is automatic without any or very
little idea in the chief central motor mechanism.
Hence, a conscious idea gives rise to a projected
movement, and an " unconscious perception " of a
sentient movement acts as a stimulus.
A patient, who cannot feel the contact of his foot
with the ground, can manage to stand or walk by
looking at his limbs. A mother, unable to feel the
pressure of her child on her arms, can sustain it so
long as her eyes are fixed on it ; the moment her
eyes are withdrawn her limbs drop powerless.
In certain conditions of body and mind, sleep is
MODERN EXPERIENCE AS TO FAITH-HEALING, 331
brought about by the ticking of a watch ; the mem-
bers of the body are rendered motionless ; speech can
be made automatic, the speaker not having any in-
telh'gence as to the words. Commands are obeyed ;
the greatest follies are committed ; and not only can
men be made to dream, they shall dream of the
things they are told. Fontaine wrote admirable
verses in his sleep. Mathematicians solve problems,
schoolboys learn their tasks, all sorts of mental feats
are done asleep ; and remembered, or not remem-
bered, in waking moments. Alexander is said to
have planned battles ; and Dr. Haycock, of Oxford,
to have delivered sermons ; planning and preaching
were both well done. One side of a man can be
made immovable, great disturbances be effected in the
sensations as to colour, and the ordinary phenomena
of colour-blindness be greatly changed. Professor
Cohn produced results by which a completely colour-
blind person distinguished, while subjected to one-
sided hypnosis, colours which in her normal state
were totally indistinguishable.
Dispassionate and sufficiently extended investiga-
tion shows that there is a general testimony of
Christians as to various miraculous manifestations,
physical and mental, of Divine healing. There is
something hidden in every one of us. Only higher
faculties, unwontedly used, can bring it into play.
There are senses which give suggestions that are not
wholly apprehensible. These are indications of a
higher power exhibiting itself as a token of some
greater harmony soon to be discovered. Science
332 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
attests natural workings which are somewhat akin ;
but no person should enterprise such undertakings
unless capable of procuring scientific results ; or,
being a believer, is in possession of a Divine gift.
The gift will be attested by soundness of mind, and
by the witness of a holy life.
Life is not a dream, but the theatre of vast thought,
energy, and service for God and man. The most
valuable knowledge comes by toil and suffering ; and,
when life is duly lived, the transition is to higher
degree.
" There are heights
Beyond our dreaming,
There are joys
Beyond our scheming.
In the purpose and the counsel
Of our Lord ;
And our peace is folden.
Within the promise golden —
* I am with thee, and will keep thee,
To the utmost of My Word.* "
Clara Thwaites,
Perfect faith in our Lord as to our body and soul,
our joys and sorrows, our life and death, has to be
wrought effectively in us by study of Holy Scripture,
by prayer, by meditation, by our daily conduct, until
by Divine gift of more and more grace it becomes a
part of our character. Then our life every day will
be as the fruition of yesterday, and the future will
come with riper fruit and better. Angels visit us, as
they did the Shepherds at Bethlehem, though our
work may be secular and poor ; and will come to us
when in sacred service, as to Zechariah ; and perfect
MODERN EXPERIENCE AS TO FAITH-HEALING, 333
faith receive secrets of God, wonderfully brought, as
marks of high honour, taking us into Divine friend-
ship. Thus our life will be moulded into form more
godly. Some of us live to experience all that the
Holy Spirit has spoken and written : we bless God
for it. The peace of God m our minds, the love of
God in our heart, experience of truth in our life, are
proof indeed that God fulfils every promise.
If we are of lower grade, not less lovely, as children
with Jesus, we shall know the power of His word to
create all good in us. Though He came to us a
Babe who could not speak ; He being then so feeble,
that mother's arms sustained Him ; yet had He with
His own hand spread out the heavens. We, by faith,
become His fellows ; and, though in weakness, are
made very strong ; He, of small life here, had but
narrow room ; yet could not the whole world hold
Him, nor the devil restrain Him ; and we too, who
are nothing at all, have share in Him who is the All
in all. Sometimes there is a needs be that we should
not heal ourselves, nor make others better, being sub-
ject, as He, the Lord, was, to the Father's will ; but
when weakness and darkness fly, strength and light
will come. Then the horizon is illumined, then we are
Divinely Healed, then we dwell in the splendours of
an unquenchable immortality.
XXXIX.
a iWiore CBxtellent a^ag.
* * To thine ownself be true ;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
Hamlet^ act i. sc. 3.
IF you examine a beautiful statue, a noble picture,
or an ingenious piece of mechanism, the whole
will be found complete ; and part to part so adjusted
that nothing lacks anywhere ; discourse of reason
extends all through ; his own inward greatness has
been the artist's model.
The world, in every part, is filled with more beauty
and greater order. Take time to view the mystery :
it coils all things that they may have a greater
spring, and it gives all to us. Study the smallest and
largest as to spaces and durations ; mark how the
various events fit into one another, moment to
moment, act to act, and form a universal master-
piece ; the knowledge of which shows that our
memory is a blessing from Heaven.
The past foreruns itself and prepares the present,
( 334 )
A MORE EXCELLENT H^AY. 335
the present foreruns itself and prepares the future.
Truth is wrapped in truth, and events are more
fittingly strung together than the jewels in a neck-
lace. This proves to a good man, that if he well
arrange his life, force, will, and wisdom, he shall
stand complete in use and beauty. He will not sail,
as fabled Hercules, amidst disasters, but truly and
safely ; for the wisdom and strength of God guide
the frail bark, his body, and sustain the weakness of
his spirit :
'*Time and its events, during the whole course of nature,
Are co-operant for noble way out to the light."
Solomon said long ago, " The thing that hath been,
it is that which shall be ; and that which is done is
that which shall be done : and there is nothing new
under the sun. . . . No man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end "
(Eccles. i. 9; iii. 11). In all the greatness. He is
beyond us ; and in the infinitesimal littleness. He
escapes ; nevertheless, He is never away. In every
grief, somehow, somewhere, help for the grief is
given ; and on the divine side of sorrow, consolation
for the sorrow is found.
No surprises, nor chances, nor miracles, come
unawares to set at nought the providence of God ; or
add a thorn too much in the believer's chaplet of
suffering. Whatever was, is, or will be, are parts in
the universal arrangement of Wisdom, foreseeing all ;
of Power, constraining all. That we may not regard
the arrangement as fated, and leaving no room for
freedom ; fortune or misfortune, life or death, poverty
336 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
or wealth, miracles and signs and wonders, are touches
of the Master's Hand to denote His presence.
** By one great Heart the Universe is stirred :
By its strong pulse, suns climb the brightening blue."
We also know of the Master by another wonder :
all great things are made of little things ; and when
we lay hold of little things, they go lessening and
lessening, till at last God alone is behind them.
" Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ;
they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet I say
unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these " (Matt. vi. 28, 29).
The lilies are guided in their way and the
guidance makes it lovely. They are a picture-
promise that we shall be yet more lovely. Consider
every beautiful thing, we shall be more beautiful ;
every strong thing, we shall be stronger. Observe
Christ's miracles of healing, they promise that we
shall be healed. All that He did in His earthly life,
was but the beginning of good things to be done in
His Heavenly Life. He climbed the heights, we
shall ascend whither He is gone. He entered the
most glorious place of Majesty, thither shall we
follow Him. We can never come to an end of all
the good that Jesus is to us. Eternity only is vast
enough that we may duly praise Him. Infinity
only wide enough to contain all the happiness He
gives.
Why then are men so lowly, and why do the
holiest suffer so much ? Apostles, even, who healed
others, could not always help themselves. The prison
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY, 337
doors were shut against St. James, though an angel
opened them for St. Peter. St. Paul, im.prisoned,
could not go forth to preach ; nor can our best men>
nowadays, always do their best, so do circumstances
crib, cabin, and confine them.
View the Matter Closely.
Only by labour can thought be made happy, and
only by thought can labour become highly useful.
Occasionally " fortune brings in some boats that are
not steer'd ; " yet it is certain, " To darkness fleet
souls that fly backwards." Sometimes, like Judah^
we cannot drive out the chariots of iron (Judg. i. 19) :
either our faith fails, or through neglect of labour
and skill, we have to make our profit out of
endurance. In study of Scripture, we go on little
by little, caring as to every word ; in science, to-
day, the infinitesimally small are found to contain
wonders great as the universe ; but we cannot all of
us achieve wonders as St. Paul did ; nor is every
man of science able to discover as Sir Isaac Newton ;
nor do all common soldiers gain victories like those
of Marlborough ; but if in our place, being en-
trusted only with little things, we do our best and
put them to their best, God will make the best of us.
The Answer Meets not all the Case.
That is because of our ignorance. We make a
wrong estimate of things, if we think that the
z
33S THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
worldly style is the highest style. It is of some
good to have pleasure, " to show in high station the
brilliancy of pomp without incurring the lassitude of
luxury." It is by far the best to have pleasure in
sacredness. St. Paul found, contrary to expectation,
that when he was weak then he was strong. There
are some Christians praying and praying for better
things than they have and for larger opportunities ;
but they do not best use what is already theirs,
nor do they fully occupy present opportunities.
They do not so much desire being conformed to
God's will, as bestir themselves that His will may
be conformed to theirs. Do all you can do, make
the most of time, try so to plant the grain of
mustard that it shall grow into a tree: you will
soon find that the whole kingdom of God has come
into you. The narrowness, where any exists, is your
own, not God's. Consider Jesus : sometimes He
escaped from the malice of His foes, at other times
He endured it. The wicked hands that grasped the
stones, could not stone Him ; but wicked hands
crucified Him. As He was, so are we in the world ;
and of all the present ways of life it is the most
excellent.
If, like Him, we as sons learn obedience by the
things we suffer (Heb. v. 8, 9); and so suffer that,
like St. Paul we may fill up that which is behind of
the afflictions of Christ and of His Church (Col. i. 24) ;
we shall do the best we can, and be the best we can.
Christ kept nothing from us. No faculty of His
human mind or soul but had to do with our salvation.
A MORE EXCELLENT WA Y. 339
He was not always on the mountain communing with
God, He was in the plain enduring the contradiction
of sinners. Every limb of His body suffered for us,
every drop of His blood was shed for us, not so much
in grand circumstances, but in a rabble of events,
even His death was most ignominious. It was to
bring His greatness into our littleness. It was to
infuse a divinity into common things, that baser
metals might be turned into gold ; that the sins and
pains and degradation, the devil brings, may givQ
place to the righteousness of God, the consolations
of God, the glory of God. This, God's plan, is the
best plan ; of all ways to Heaven it is the most
excellent way. " In everything give thanks : for this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you '*
(i Thess. V. 18).
Take an example. It is suitable to most men's
functions on the earth, and wisely ordered, that they
are born poor, live poor, and die poor. Martin
Luther was one of the poorest : at school he sang for
alms, and sought bread from door to door. Hardship,
stern necessity, were his companions ; neither man
nor circumstance put on a smiling face to flatter
Martin Luther. Thus his large inquisitive soul
became larger and more inquisitive, fuller of faculty
and sensibility, he became acquainted with realities,
and remained acquainted. Intensely real and hating
shams, he made other men real and haters of shams.
Himself, a teacher and healer, he made others to
teach and heal. He greatly prepared for the greater
future into which we all are hasting.
340 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
** This is my joy, which ne*er can fail,
To see my Saviour's arm prevail ;
To mark the steps of grace ;
How new-born souls, convinced of sin,
His blood revealed to them within,
Extol my Lord in every place."
Take some common facts. All, even the commonest
things in nature go beyond themselves and show, as
we investigate them, w^orlds of wonders behind a veil :
the things represented being greater than the repre-
sentation. There is no exception to the rule, it
includes the tiny moss and the majestic sun. It
follows from this, that the joys of feasts, of music, of
communion with the Saints and with God, are as
shadows of greater joys. The loveliness of flowers,
the gleam of stars, houses good and great, mental
and moral beauty, are the faint outUning of more
loveliness ; are a transient shine of a greater
splendour ; are lower structures to tell of heavenly
mansions ; are a beauty to be perfected in the pre-
sence of our Lord. Being sons of God, we inherit
the earth and all in it ; Heaven, and all there is in
that. We shall enjoy all that God can do for us, and
He will enable us to do all that we can for Him.
Consequently, let us not be anxious for miracles, for
visions, tongues of eloquence in mystery, and healings
extraordinary ; but endeavour to be all and do all
God will have, and that very truly, very simply, very
humbly. It is the most excellent way.
** Through Time, all things change ; but Spring.,
After the World's Winter, will bring a new Summer.
Though stream cease to flow ;
Though wind cease to blow ;
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 341
Though cloud cease to fleet ;
Though heart cease to beat ;
The Glass of Time, when kindly shaken, shalJ
Run again with Golden Sands."
These are truths gathered from Scripture, and by
research in the searches of scientific men. We add a
few more.
Death, caused by sin, and a part of the present
natural arrangement ; is made by the righteousness
of Christ to bring a more blissful life than it takes
away. Behind it, is the sure and certain hope of a
joyful resurrection. Out of the dark valley, we go
into realms of light ; from the skeleton embrace, we
are carried into the Everlasting Arms of God. We
shall dwell in a land where the sun no more goes
down, nor the moon withdraws itself ; the Lord will
be our everlasting light, and the days of mourning
be ended (Isa. Ix. 20). This hath God arranged for
us. What will you do with it? George Herbert
says —
** A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye ;
Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass,.
And then the Heaven espy."
Those who look on glass, and on it stay their eye,-
are the feebly scientific who find no wisdom in!
nature ; who speak of men as villains of necessity ; of
fools, as being so by compulsion ; of knaves, thieves,,
tricksters, who cheat like scoundrels in order to live
like gentlemen, as trying to catch the iridescence
of a bubble ; and of themselves as clever, all-round
men, by spherical predominance. So they turn from
342 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
God : kill the physician, and bestow the fee upon the
foul disease —
" But by bad courses may be understood,
That their event can never fall out good."
King Richard II., act ii. sc. I.
The pleasure seekers, sensual ; the godless, devilish;
fellows of an infinite tongue, even to deny the instinct
that would make them better men ; pretend to live
aright by wrong ; and profess, if there is a Heaven,
they shall win it by debating and denying all sacred-
ness, having no faith at all. They are awful men,
whose existence darkens into untold horrors. Not
reproach are our words, but in warning, that they
may seek Jesus the universal Benefactor.
** Lordj what a change within us one short hour
Spent in Thy presence will prevail to make.
What heavy burdens from our bosoms take,
What parched grounds refresh, as with a shower.
We kneel, and all ground us seems to lower.
We rise, and all, the distant and the near,
Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear ;
We kneel, how weak, we rise how full of power.
Why therefore should we do ourselves the wrong,
Or others — that we are not always strong.
That we are ever overborne with care.
That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious, or troubled, when with -us is prayer.
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee^
Archbishop Trauh.
The central figure in this life, and the next, whose
Life is made our life and our life His own, is the
Lord Jesus. To be now as He was ; doing all and
bearing all God's will ; not performing, nor desiring
to perform, miracles for ourselves ; but striving, by
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY, 343
being as He was, to become as He is ; no more
wonderful life can there be than this. Good John
Berridge prayed, " Lord, if I am right, keep me so ;
if I am not right, make me so, and lead me to the
knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus."
God's saving of a man by Jesus, and bringing him
out of sin into righteousness, is like His making out
of dark masses the splendid sun ; for the saved man
will shine as that sun. What a universe will it be
when the multitude of saved, that no man can
number, are suns in God's firmament ! The bright-
ness of all being the brightness of Christ's counten-
ance, once sad and dying on the. Cross, now joyous
and alive for ever on the Throne. Lord, make me
Christlike. There is something better than all great
gifts ; a way more excellent than the path of earthly
honour ; something that excelleth all other graces.
It is the consummation and perfection of all. The
perfection of faith, the perfection of hope, the per-
fection of love — the supreme love of God. Love rests
in perfect confidence on God. In trouble thanks
God, and out of the worry He then brings peace : for
trying circumstances are always places of wonder.
Has some sin caused pain, or sickness, or loss ?
Confess the sin, try to amend the past misdoing, then
thank God for keeping you yet alive ; and the pain,
the sin, the sting, will go. Love to God works all
this, comforts you under calumny and injustice,
enables you to rejoice and be exceeding glad because
God leads you by a way He knows to be best
Whether in ill health of mind or body, if bereaved
3U THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of those you love, you have David's confidence,
" Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life." Love will abide when faith and
hope have done their work. Love suffereth long, and
is kind ; envieth not, vaunteth not, is not puffed up ;
behaveth not itself unseemly, endureth all things, and
never faileth. O ! what a harvest is growing 1 O !
for the splendour of the New Jerusalem ! Men of
the world think not of it, they are without discern-
ment because they hear not the clink of chisel and
trowel; but, thanks be to God, all Christlike men
shall certainly dwell in the City of the great King ;
and, having served Him humbly here, will serve Him
very excellently for ever in the beautiful land that
seems now far off.
*'. . . Then through endless days
Where all Thy glories shine ;
In happier, holier strains we'll praise
The grace that made us Thine."
Bennett.
XL.
'STfit practical defence of a jputure S'tate.— L
** Credo ut intelligam may be the most true and most reasonable
motto of the large part of Christian faith and life ; but it is not incon-
sistent with, it is founded upon — an ultimate underlying intellexi ut
crederemy — Rev. R. C. Moberly, The Incarnation as the Basis of
Dogma in ^^ Lux Mundi^^'' p. 227.
The Science of a Future State.
THE evidence for religious truth is not of one kind
only, but of all kinds. It addresses the whole
nature of man, and requires the whole nature, if it is
to be fully apprehended. Intellectual conceptions
must be quickened, the qualities of a moral and
spiritual being are to be exercised. Sentient affections,
moral satisfactions, physical and spiritual affinities
and convictions, are necessary.
It is wholly unreasonable to speak of man as
merely a rational animal, or as nothing more than a
material organism ; he is both rational and material ;
but these are only a part of what he is. Other
qualities and experiences belong to the heart, the
imagination, the conscience, and constitute a spiritual
( 345 )
346 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
personality. Besides, there are those intuitions of the
future, the sense of sin, the consciousness of every
possibility in the future, and that whatever it is which
not less requires than receives a Divine Revelation.
There is not only a fulness, but a many-sidedness in
Christian evidence and truth, not less full and many-
sided than human life. Religion, indeed, is the
practical science of a future life.
We must, as Herman Lotze says, " Regard exist-
ence as a precipitate whose genesis never can be
understood, and which falls directly, without any
interposing medium, on that which forms the content
of the existent." ^ Other things we can accurately
speak of: the animal's soul certainly concentrates its
many impressions in that unity of consciousness which
leads it to act Our soul does the same, but in a
wider, higher, grander way. The living element in us
conveys its consciousness to our soul ; then unfolds
our mind, both to outer and inner life which react on
the soul ; then the percipient mind, the reflecting
mind, or spirit, with the soul, act on the body. The
combination works with a higher activity of steadier,
quicker, and peculiar vital feeling. When the con-
nection is dissolved, the soul deposits what has been
won from life and experience in the living spirit ;
and thus the spirit, having acquired, by the body and
soul, what it could not without them, enters a new
phase of existence. In all this man is above all
other earthly creatures. It is folly to assert that
other animals are like the man, for they lack that
* ** Microcosmos," vol. i. b. v. chap. i.
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE, 347
which he very greatly possesses. It is part of the
science of immortality, and in obedience to Scripture,
that we discern in map a high peculiarity and exist-
ence which we willingly use, so as to be rightly great.
Religious men no more doubt the absolute certainty
of this than they believe —
** This whole earth may be bored, and that the moon
May through the centre creep."
Midsummer Aighfs Dream, act iii. sc. 2.
Religious men are those who by the Eternal Spirit
have access to the Eternal Father through the
Eternal Son. The Church, formed of these men, is
the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and every believer
is as a spiritual stone in that Temple. Men are
builded into that Temple to form a society to be the
Home of Christ, and thence the Spirit of Christ is to
change and transfigure the whole order of the world.
These men, under different skies and separated by
vast oceans, serve one and the same Lord. The
Divine life that is in them discerns in mountains and
forests and shining streams, in the vine and fig tree
and ripening corn, manifestations of God's presence,
power, and goodness.
By Him who is before all things, and in whom all
things consist ; who is not only in the flower of the
field and m the fruits of holiness ; but is that power
enabling us to endure unto the end, is that power
without which the universe would become a chaos, is
that power which is the life of all things and all men ;
by Him is also that power by which we know we
have eternal life. The life, conferred by Divine Act,
348 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
may be called the potency of a germ : but to be more
than a potency, more than a germ, we must by living
turn it into an act ; and only by this act can we
individually realize our share in the common possession
of our race — God's Gift of Eternal Life through Jesus
Christ.
Practical Art as to a Future State.
Regarding ourselves, physically and mentally, we
are social beings with an inclination and a necessity
to confide in our fellow-creatures. We are further
endowed with a desire for knowledge of our relations
with the causes and conditions of our existence ; with
objects in the remote recesses of space, in the far-off
past and future ; and with the visible and invisible
agencies in perpetual operation around us. In pursuit
of this sociableness with one another, and of know-
ledge as to ourselves and the world, we discern the
necessity for moral government, as to individuals and
society ; we further apprehend that all phenomena
represent one supreme eternal Power.
Having, as men, confidence in men, we regard the
founders of laws for the government of society, not
as tyrants, but as of great practical skill and worthy
conservators of communities. We consider that the
learned of antiquity who made records of marvellous
events, who asserted that they received Divine
revelations, and whose character, intelligence, and
the evidence they gave of those supernatural events,
obtained that credence which rendered Theology
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE, 349
possible, were neither deceived nor deceivers ; did
not present absurd fictions, inconsistent with truth
and moral duty ; but inculcated reverence for God,
good will to man, and deserved that engrossing
influence which they obtained by leading human
intellect and affections to the study and love of the
grandest and most fascinating exercises of reason.
More specially is it true that Christianity, wresting
the mind from worldliness and sensuality, has ex-
hibited an art beyond all arts in enlightening and
strengthening our reason ; in purifying and elevating
our life, by giving due importance to spiritual interests,
and the needs be of preparing for a future life.
The Jews, more particularly conservators of the
idea of sin, though sin was never absent from the
minds of other nations, specially dealt with it in a
twofold character: alienation from God, weakening
and corrupting the whole nature ; and the reaction
from that alienation, by a longing to return and be at
peace with Him. They further represented the guilt
of sin, as an internal and external hostility to the
Supreme ; who rightly and justly punishes it. Their
propitiatory sacrifices not only carried the idea of
reunion by means of a victim ; but went beyond the
victim in requiring an inward free-will offering of the
whole human nature, so that man's will might be
renewed and sanctified by contact with the Divine
Will. This had full expression in Christ who, putting
Himself in our place, as the offender, offered Himself
also as the sacrifice for us. In Christ, though there
was an almost overwhelming consciousness of the
350 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
exceeding wickedness, the sin's guilt was victoriously
endured, and perfect holiness in perfect obedience
worked a full satisfaction, for God and man. None
but Christ could take the punishment and make it a
propitiation. The Cross was a proclamation of God's
hatred as to sin ; and, at the same time, man's
acknowledgment that the penalty was just. Christ's
obedience issued, as it was meant to issue, in death.
Now in death alone, there is nothing well-pleasing to
God ; but there is much well-pleasing in the righteous-
ness that endures to the end. In this view, St.
Bernard said, " Not His (Christ's) death, but His
willing acceptance of death, was well-pleasing to
God." It is by a practical piety taking Christ's act
of obedience and infusing it by aid of Divine Grace
in our own nature ; and by fellowship with Christ's
suffering, by crucifying our affections and lusts, that
the mystical union of Christ and His people is
accomplished ; and by this fellowship we are made
partakers of the Divine nature. The Crucifixion did
not come as the unexpected and disastrous result of
a wonderful and glorious life ; but as the crowning
act of noblest endurance, of holiest resolve, of most
perfect obedience, which Christ Jesus undertook as
Son of God and as Son of Man.
It may be asked, by those desiring to put the
science of a future life into practice, "How do we
obtain evidence concerning the truth of all this } "
Reply. — Dogmas of science, and in every age
scientific men present their dogmata, say Gravity,
Conservation of Energy, Circulation of the Blooa,
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE. 351
have to be corrected and enlarged again and again,
and tested ; because they can never be so completely
represented as that no other verifying or antagonistic
truth need be stated. It is not so with the truths of
religion. " They are offered for acceptance with their
full proofs, from the first moment that they are offered
at all." Not one is brought for acceptance by any
man without intelligible and sufficient reason for
that acceptance. Doubtless, the seer, the prophet,
the lawgiver, the apostle, knew what, why, and in
whom they believed. These were the holiest, the
best, the most capable, of their time. They spoke
with an authority, a zeal, a power, more than of friend
to friend, than of parent to child, about sin, redemp-
tion from sin, and the inheritance of eternal life.
Men listened and obeyed through conviction that
words of truth were spoken, and that the Spirit's true
endowments had come to mankind.
This primal authority is also a large part, as it
ought to be, of our own intelligent conviction ; because
the authority was, even at first, not accepted without
reason. The power of intelligence and the beauty of
life in those early teachers were confirmatory of their
every statement ; and true endowments stood out
plainly from false ones ; the false tending to their
own undoing, and the true to their own triumph.
There is in all truth an essential relation, correspond-
ence, and harmony between it and all hearts and
minds, capable of the truth. Communion with Divine
Truth is that abiding of our spirit in the Divine
Wisdom which, conforming us more and more to it,
352 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
is the secret of our high knowledge as to the Word
of God, and which lapse of time confirms by much
experience ; every man's experience, by-and-by,
proving the truth.
The art and science of a Christian life, of an assured
conviction and safe progress in the truths of immor-
tality, are to be exercised in the reasonable deference
to that authority which at first and all along has been
reasonably accepted. Thousands and thousands
believe, neither ignorantly nor unreasonably, in ever-
lasting life who are without ability to state logically
why they believe ; yet, their belief is a life growth of
true experience, and saving apprehension as to Chris-
tian Truth. They feel and know certainly, by Divine
inward witness, that God has made known the
mystery of His will and good pleasure, that in the
dispensation of the fulness of times, He will "gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are
in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him "
(Eph. i. id).
Those abstruser parts, the doctrines of our Faith,
are, in some respects, more confirmed by science, by
investigation, and by general consciousness of fitness,
than are the historic portions evidenced by testimony
— though that testimony is of fuller and more precise
character than can be offered for any other book in
the world. Scholars have traced in the hieroglyphics
of Egypt ancient ideas of the Trinity, of the Spirit,
of the Son, and that Son is termed Saviour. In the
mystic record of Osiris we find him put to death, that
by dying and by the grave he wrought an atonement.
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE. 353
and then rose in newness of life from amongst the
dead. Thqse facts show that as light from the stars
of the sky is reflected in the placid lake, not less
plainly do the truths of Heaven shine down into the
minds of men.
When, through lack of parent's duty and stress of
malign circumstances, our natural folly and perversity
lead us into open sin ; or, if not into that grossness,
beguile us to that which is not worth a life-long
labour ; even then God sometimes, and always if we
are willing to receive it, opens the eyes of our under-
standing and gives a spirit of wisdom as to the riches
of the glory of the inheritance of His saints (Eph.
i. 18, 19). Robert Browning says —
* * There are flashes struck from midnights,
There are fire-flames noondays kindle,
Whereby piled-up honours perish,
Whereby swoU'n ambitions dwindle ;
While just this or that poor impulse,
Which for once had play unstifled,
Seems the sole work of a lifetime,
That away the rest have trifled."
2 A
XLI.
■S;]bc practical Science of a Jputure a>tate.— II.
** We cannot dissect the compound, man, into body apart and mind
apart ; we cannot remove mind so as to see whether the body will
vanish. We may remove the body, and in so doing we find that mind
disappeared ; but the experiment is not conclusive ; for, in removing
the body we remove our indicator of the mind." — Prof. Alexander
BaIx\, LL.D., Mind and Body.
** The time of life is short ;
To spend that shortness basely were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour."
Henry IV.^ Part I., act v. sc. 2.
BY a natural art and science, natural in the sense
of being God-given, young and other persons,
little instructed and less educated, rightly and un-
doubtingly accept the certainty of Christian truth.
They do this on authority. In the same way that
students in science accept the dogmata of their
teachers concerning the asserted evolution of life, of
man, of morals. Let him who smiles at the devout
person who walks lovingly in the path of virtue
because of a devout parent's sacred influence and
authority, go and laugh at the credulity of a professor
( 354 )
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE, 355
who adopts the whole story as to evolution, and
credulously expects students to accept every bit of
the dogma. Will the laugher prosper in the exami-
nation ? Are there not more reasons why we should
accept Christian Truth, which age after age has ex-
perimentally satisfied the intellectual apprehension
and sacred consciousness of the ablest and purest of
our race ? If a student ought to accept and rely on
statements as to laws of nature and science, which
every succeeding generation finds more or less incor-
rect and inadequate, should not those who are with-
out historic knowledge, who cannot sift evidence, who
have no acquaintance with the intellectual and ex-
perimental facts, accept those facts which demonstrate
that faith to the scholar, and are a life-long witness
to him who has lived in the fresh illuminating and
deepening conviction of them ?
Consider not merely a man's mental endowments,
regard him as a moral being. Not only the intelli-
gence, but moral affections, moral sympathies, moral
perceptions, spiritual satisfactions and affinities, unite
to satisfy the Christian believer. These as experienced
and verified m the contentment of tried men, in the
consoling of those who are troubled, in filling the
depth and width of every requirement, have so
saturated human life that there is no other evidence
in the world, as to high intellectual and moral truth,
which in any way comes to a level with the evidence
for those holy doctrines which appeal to our intelli-
gence, our heart, our imagination, our conscience.
This evidence, instead of weakening, strengthens with
356 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
the lapse of ages ; and it is well said, " The fulness of
Christian evidence is as many-sided as human life."
We safely accept our Creed, that there is One God,
One Heaven, One Salvation, One Saviour, One Holy
Ghost, One Church, the fulness of Him who fiUeth all
in all. For our Christian Faith we claim that it is
the true and most intelligible expression upon earth
of the highest truth that is or can be known.
Further, there have been from age to age natural
coincidences, prophecies, prodigies, dreams, visions,
speeches, revelations, healings, which, whatever we
may say of the delusions worked by crafty men, are
on the whole an insurmountable proof that our life is
more than mortal and mechanical. The existence of
sorcery everywhere is a moral pestilence that proves
the existence of evil powers, as Bacon, Mather, and
innumerable others testify ; while not less proving
the wickedness of those who follow a delusive and
destroying art. There are strange phenomena of the
sentient and nervous system, double consciousness ;
seeing, yet not with the eyes ; hearing, but not with
the ears ; of reading by touch of the surface of a
written or of a printed page, a sort of sense-feeling.
Fear sometimes causes cholera and other diseases.
Mental structure influences the physical, and the
physical the mental ; we know of it, but very little
as to the how or why. Intense view of any colour
or colours will produce a change of the image
of the colour first formed on the retina. Fear in
intensity carried to inordinate arousing produces
temporary insanity. This may be further seen in the
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE. 357
fascination of snakes and other noxious creatures
over their victims. The excitement caused by over-
looking a precipice will sometimes lead to the casting
down to destruction of the observer. Shakespeare
said —
** I'll look no more,
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight
Topple down headlong."
Dreams, originating from former sensations ; or
coming no one knows how or why ; produced by a
predominant idea, yet refusing to come when or how
or of a sort we most earnestly desire ; the harassed
imagination sometimes calling devils and torment,
when heavenly bliss is looked for. The attainment
of a good is sometimes foreshadowed, or a disastrous
event foreseen ; but for the most part we dream of
good and evil, and they come or do not come apart
from reasonable expectation. Whisper into the ear
of a dreamer and you will receive sometimes an
answer not less intelligent than if he saw the passing
event. Trances, which seem to have no life, some-
times people that life with variety of personified
images. Ecstasies may be caused by lively imagina-
tions of bliss, or misery ; and, sometimes, they possess
those who have little or no imagination. These states
are unnatural and preternatural, they show depths and
heights beyond all that material measures and figures
take knowledge of. They make every prudent man
pause. Doubtless, there are dreadful things to which
we are now exposed ; and taking the lowest view —
** Nature brought us hither ; *' then truly Nature may
3S8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
take us into some undiscovered country where are
evils worse and greater.
The extraordinary exaltation of imagination,
whether awake or asleep, is not always caused and
accompanied by illusions. Fanciful combinations
may rest on true and beautiful spiritual conceptions
which are the fruit of many years' intense meditation.
The torpor and quiescence of some minds, as to
anything beyond mathematics and measurements, are
happily, so far as mankind is concerned, chastised
and corrected by the artistic, the poetic, and by the
best of all — religious grace, which, regarded as sacred
genius, is genius pre-eminent. Such a genius pro-
bably was Joan of Arc, an ecstatic enthusiast of an
ardent devotional temperament, fully confident that
she was a heavenly commissioned agent. Her energy
moved the masses ; and, despite the falseness and
corruption of king, princes, and nobles, rescued the
people from degradation and oppression, to give them
liberty and distinction.
In Blackwood' s Magazine, the May number, 1847,
is an account of Henry Engelbrecht. " In the year
1623, exhausted by intense mental excitement of a
religious kind, and by abstinence from food, after
hearing a sermon which strongly affected him, he
felt as if he could combat no more, so he gave in and
took to his bed. There he lay a week without tasting
anything but the bread and wine of the sacrament.
On the eighth day, he thought he fell into the death
struggle ; death seemed to invade him from below
upwards ; his body became rigid ; his tongue and lips
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE, 359
incapable of motion ; gradually his sight failed him,
but he still heard the laments and consultations of
those around him. This gradual demise lasted from
mid-day till eleven at night, when he heard the
watchman ; then he lost consciousness of outward
impressions. . . , An elaborate vision of immense
detail began. . . . He was first carried down to hell,
and looked into the place of torment ; thence, quicker
than an arrow, was he borne to paradise. In these
abodes of suffering and happiness, he saw and heard
and smelled things unspeakable." In an hour his
hearing was first restored ; then his sight ; feeling
and motion followed ; when he arose, he felt stronger
than before the trance. No one comprehends all this.
Even those w^ho regard it as a sort of instinctive
experiment, and the others who say it is a lucky
groping in the dark, cannot account for the instinct ;
and luck will not find that which has no existence.
Certainly in our dreams and ecstasies and trances,
w^hen we seem wholly out of ourselves, or shall we
say in ourselves and out of the body, we light upon
remarkable presciences and find odds and ends of
strange knowledge.
Those who unbelievingly argue about our Lord's
Resurrection, and reason against immortality, forget
it is not simply a question whether a man can die
and after death reappear in life. The whole fact, all
it was and is and meant and means, the far-reaching
affinities with our nature, and the essential parts of it
as intertwined with the character of Him who rose,
must be viewed. Jesus, being what He was, doing
36o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Avhat He did, the fulfilment of prophecy, the converg-
ing often thousand historic events, mental convictions
and moral aspirations from all the past, illuminating,
explaining, and showing life beyond the grave to be
actual and immortal, cannot be reasoned about as a
common individual, with an ordinary life. His life
was not only historical, but connected, even as are
His Death and Resurrection, with the whole of
Scripture, with the eternal counsels and infinite
purposes of God. Our teachers, in the exercise of
their higher theologic art and science, emphasize
this grand fact, the resurrection of our Lord, and
all those wonders which belong to it and to our
immortality, as those truths which vivify all other ;
and make it worth our while to live for them, worth
our while to die for them.
Lacordaire wrote,^ *'The world did not vanish
before my eyes ; it rather assumed nobler propor-
tions as I myself did. I began to see therein a noble
sufferer needing help. I could imagine nothing com-
parable to the happiness of ministering to it under
the eye of God, with the help of the Cross, and the
Gospel of Christ." Jesus, indeed, would have us
encircle ourselves with love ; the " loveliness of per-
fect deeds, more strong than all poetic thought."
This Jesus, whose life, teaching, death, resurrection,
brought immortality into the realm of exhibited facts,
was truly man — no one doubts that. Was He truly
God } The Church, we as individuals. Scripture and
history, in declaring that He was God Incarnate, did
* "Biographical Sketch," p. 34, translated by H. S. Lear.
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE. 361
not, nor do, assert a new doctrine. It was part of
the life of patriarchs and prophets that there should
be a life so wonderful. Into all history, all fable, all
myth, all allegory, the coming of God as man infused
a meaning — making the romantic to be real. The
mysterious person of Jesus, the marvellousness of His
ministry, the spell of His presence, His holiness, His
wisdom, His power, present such a character moment
by moment, and a whole life long, the like of which
has and never had any equal in the world. From
then till now, the collected and the individual wisdom
of mankind has microscopically tested His every
word, passed every event of His life as through a
fire, and the accumulating evidence of His transcen-
dental Humanity, of His Incarnate Deity, forces
conviction on all minds capable of grasping so grand
a subject that Jesus was and is indeed that Lord God
and Saviour who rightly said, " If ye believe not that
I am He, ye shall die in your sins.'' When the con-
viction of this enlightens a man's mind, and the power
of it purifies a man's heart, his life will be a practical
exhibition of art and science concerning a future
state.
As children of God naturally and spiritually shrink
from a too free and bold handling of these most holy
themes, it is well for them to know that Theology,
the crown of the sciences, requires her Ministers,
according to their ability, again and again in the
course of time with the advancing light of intelligence,
to search whether the ages have weakened the
testimony of our fathers, or whether new discoveries
362 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
cast doubt on Christian Truth. Well is it for the
Church, and for men generally, that those, most
qualified to speak, unanimously declare — that amidst
the many differences, caused by the confused move-
ment of the spirit of our age ; Christ remains as that
God-man the great and only Saviour.
This truth in Christ is twofold. It unifies and
sanctifies the two parts of our nature, material and
spiritual, in one redeemed person. It is the salvation
of both, not the abolition of either. It shows that the
Church, the Sacraments, Jesus Himself, the World at
large and every part, have a transcendental bodily or
material side, and a transcendental spritual side. It
gives that coherency to things, and assures that
reconciliation of contraries, which solves all difficulties
by the act of a coming everlasting adjustment. We
are sure that the bond between body and soul is the
vital and reciprocal action of each in the fully formed
and self-maintaining life of the future.
Thus endeavouring to place our Holy Faith as
the practical, and only practical science of a future
state ; its relationship with the being of all things,
and the life of all creatures, bring it before every
mind as an object lesson. An ordinary mind is able
to investigate it. If he will, can find everywhere in the
statements of materialists, and in the asserted facts of
spiritualists, evidence of things transcending all that
is earthly. These facts are mediate and immediate
revelations everything being mediately connected
with everything else, while the whole and every
part is manifestly of God, and is being carried on
7 HE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE. 363
and on to an endless future which is coming every
moment.
The hallucination pervading some minds degrading
them to the acceptance of a gross animal pedigree
and a future nonentity ; seems an example of that
possession by an evil spirit which takes off somewhat
of our wonder as to the demoniacs of old. We win
confessions at times from dreamers which reveal their
secret thoughts. Doubtless, if we knew rightly how
to question these life-dreamers, as to there being no
future for men, we should know, as St. Paul declares,
that the god of this world has blinded and possesses
them. How can a sense of personal worth, the true
element of greatness, exist where newborn scepticism,
Satan's child begotten of corruption, casts out all
reverence for high things and all hope of any great
future good ?
It is the religious spirit, the thankful heart, the
devout mind, the obedient will, which lead us to seek
and obtain a beautiful life. If a man has not that
true knowledge by which he discerns God in every-
thing, nor that sort of good living which is the
endeavour to serve God in everything, where can
thankfulness, cheerfulness, purity, the sense of large-
ness and mystery, be found } It is the consciousness
of supreme power everywhere, of infinite possibilities
for every one of us, of perfect holiness and happiness
within our reach, that creates a law, a science, high
art, veracity, without which can be no vital spiritual
power, no lasting beauty in human progress.
What infernal being, powerful only in mischief; or
364 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
what nothingness, unguided ; could from chaos, or
from less than chaos, bring all the beautiful worlds
where art so beautifully works, and science so skilfully
guides, that the evidences of wisdom and knowledge
tower up on every side ? The universal proof that
the worlds are a production of art and skill, is the
fact that art and skill in endless variety and universal
extent characterize every operation of nature, every
work of an animal, and all works of man. Those
things and creatures that are without consciousness
are guided by something, not of themselves, to take
care of themselves. Were it not, for the purpose
toward which all things tend, every one doing its own
little part in the great whole, so that the moss on the
wall, the oak in the forest, the fish in the sea, and man
in use of his liberty and power, have consciously or
unconsciously the art and science of doing things
aright, there could be no right-doing anywhere. This
universal fact, if a man scientifically thinks, will be
regarded as a demonstration vast as the universe, of
an art, a science, of an infinite character guiding
all things to a purposed future. It is the reflection in
men of the art, of the science, of the purpose, that
leads us all to think of the future. If the thought
leads us to faith in Christ, to fulfil all that for
which He redeemed us, we shall do well evermore.
We claim acceptance and use of science in a
practical form, that we may not only think about
Immortality, but carry consistency and accuracy of
thought into the formulated teaching of the Word
of God, regarding the Way of Life. Then we shall
THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE OF A FUTURE STATE. 365
have guarantees of safety from that Word, from the
universal consciousness of mankind, and from the
experience of the holiest and greatest of our race,
that we walk safe and sure. As to the promise and
the fulfilment, God has confirmed the same with an
oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we may have strong con-
solation (Heb. vi. 17, 18). Hence, we have no room
for doubt. The arrangements are so wonderful, that
heavenly principalities and powers are made to know
thereby the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. iii. 10).
We go further. Those who received Christ, and all
who receive Him now, have a divine testimony and
a divine work wrought in them : they are born again,
" not of the blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God" (John i. 13). This
" light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ " has a power like the omnipotent
creating Cause, going forth with the omnific mandate,
"Let there be Light."
" We love Thee, Lord ; yet not alone, because Thy bounteous hand
Showers down its rich and ceaseless gifts on ocean and on land ;
We praise Thee, gracious Lord, for these, yet not for these alone
The incense of Thy children's love arises to Thy throne.
** We love Thee, Lord, because, when we had err'd and gone astray,
Thou didst recall our wandering souls into the heavenward way,
When helpless, hopeless, we were lost in sin and sorrow's night,
A guiding ray was granted us from Thy pure fount of light.
"Because, O Lord, Thou lovedst us with everlasting love,
And sentest forth Thy Son to die that we might live above ;
Because, when we were heirs of wrath, Thou gavest hopes of heaven ;
We love because we much have sinn'd, and much have been forgiven."
/. A, ElliotU
XLII.
Occupations l^ereaftev of tfie (Slorifielr.
** Sweep all worlds with one loud trumpet blast —
Life I live for aye ! Thou, Death, shalt surely die ! "
John Cleland, Scala Natura,
** In Death too, in the Death of the Just, as the last perfection of a
Work of Art, may we not discern symbolic meaning ? In that divinely
transfigured Sleep, as of Victory, resting over the beloved face which
now knows thee no more, read (if thou canst for tears) the confluence
of Time with Eternity, and some gleam of the latter peering through."
— Sartor Resartus^ bk. iii. ch. iii.
IT is said, " A knowledge of God and of the spiritual
life gradually appears, not as the product of
human ingenuity, but as the result of Divine com-
munication ; and the outcome of this communication
is to produce an organic whole which postulates a
climax, not yet reached, a redemption not yet given,
a hope not yet satisfied."
The prophets and psalmists take the highest places
amongst the seers and sages and poets of all nations.
They are chiefest, because their prophetic and poetic
faculties were directed to reveal the soul's relations
to God and to Immortality in their exultations,
exaltations, and self-abasements. The piercing
( 366 )
OCCUPATIONS HEREAFTER OF THE GLORIFIED. 367
lightning-like gleams of truth, strange and spiritual ;
those magnificent outlooks towards the kingdom of
the Lord, His presence and glory ; were more than
the mere working of the mind of man, more than any
disclosure of self-knowledge. They are connected
with a body of divinity, a religious and a secular
history, joined m every part, and extending from
age to age. They were outpourings of the love of
God, of the wisdom of God, to make men know the
mystery of Christ, the mystery of God ; whereby even
angels learned the Divine purpose ; that men should
partake of the Divine nature, be filled with all the
fulness of God, and be inheritors of everlasting glory
(Eph. iii. 10, II, 17-19). Surely, these men heard the
whispers of the Spirit of God, they reflected the true
light of His Eternal Wisdom.
The Nature and Conditions of a Blissful Immor-
tality may be discerned, in some measure, by viewing
the occupations hereafter of the Glorified. These may
be known —
I. By the Renewal of our Nature.
Christ, the Son of God, became Jesus, the Son of
Man, that He might redeem our body and soul by
making reconciliation for sin, and then go as our
Forerunner to Heaven. As Son of God He was
eternally perfect. Into this perfection, He assumed
our nature, took upon Him the whole, " became flesh
conditioned ; though, in taking that flesh. He who
knew no sin was made sin on our behalf Not only
368 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
in His Death, but throughout His Life, He was
suffering, was learning, becoming more and more
conditioned by the sinfulness of man. The Crucifixion
coming, " not as the unexpectedly shameful end of
a glorious and untroubled life," but as the voluntary
and foreseen and prepared "submission to all that
constitutes in sinners the consummation and the
punishment of their sin." There was no misunder-
standing nor failure on His part. The failure of the
Jewish people, of personal friends, the accomplish-
ment of the traitor's betrayal, all belonged to His
bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows, being
chastised for our peace, and being striped for our
healing. Thus He redeemed us, and so doing He
showed that " of all gifts bestowed on us from above
that of helping human beings to become better and
happier is the greatest : " for thus are we made
fellow-workers with God."
This redemption of body, soul, and spirit is proof
that body, soul, and spirit do not lose their faculties ;
are not so changed as to be another body, soul, and
spirit; but are transformed by amelioration, by passing
from a diseased to healthful state, by being disciplined,
that the experience and betterment, thus acquired,
may be carried into the future as the perfected pro-
duction of God's power, God's wisdom, God's love,
despite man's weakness and Satan's malice.
Our body is regenerated, renewed, born from above,
to make it like Christ's Body, which was born by
operation of the Holy Ghost. We, new born by the
power of God, possess a freshness, a trueness of
OCCUPATIONS HEREAFTER OF THE GLORIFIED, 369
Christ-like nature, in place of the oldness and false-
ness of the Adamic nature. St. Cyprian says, " After
I drank in the Heavenly Spirit, and was created into
a new man by a second birth — then marvellously
what before was doubtful became plain to me, what
was hidden was revealed, what was dark began to
shine, what was before difficult, now had a way and
a means ; what had seemed impossible, now could be
achieved ; what was in me of the guilty flesh, now
confessed that it was earthy ; what was quickened in
me by the Holy Ghost, now had a growth according
to God." ^ Cyprian found, as we do, that the life we
now live in the flesh, as believers, is not so much our
own as Christ's life. St. Paul said (Gal. ii. 20), " I
live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Being
redeemed, regenerate, sanctified, we are members of
Christ, and our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost
(i Cor. vi. 15, 19), In our body we are to be alive,
and sit with Christ enthroned (Rev. iii. 21). It will
not be the dead body, sown in the ground and
corrupt ; but a living one of which that was the seed.
" Our nature opens and turns out its forces only by
degrees. There is an infancy for the individual, and
an infancy for the race."
Something of this we can understand. We shall
understand more, if we live in the clear, deep, habitual
recognition, of a living Personal God who lives in us :
God essentially good, wise, true, holy, the Author of
all that exists ; and reunion with whom is the great
* Cyprian ad Donatum, 3. Translation, ** Library of the Fathers,"
iii. p. 3-
2 B
370 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
aim of all truly rational beings. Our body is the
special, covenanted sphere, of God's regular and
uniform and spiritual operation. He is pledged to
dwell in it, and to work there. It is the home where
is kept not only the picture, but that Life of Christ,
which when perfected in us will be translated to the
throne in Heaven. The Holy Spirit is given to make
our individuality, our personality, live an intenser life.
Intense personal life is rich and full and free individual
life. It is our markedness of character that propagates
our religion. Cyril of Jerusalem spoke somewhat in
this guise — One and the same rain comes down upon
all the world. It becomes white in the lily, red in the
rose, purple in the violet, different and various in all the
several kinds. It is one in the palm tree, another in
the vine, and all in all things. Thus the Holy Ghost
gives what is appropriate to the nature of every man.
He employs the tongue of one man for wisdom ; He
enlightens another by prophecy ; to another He gives
power to drive away devils ; to another He gives to
interpret Scripture ; diverse to different men, not
diverse to Himself The statement of Cyril as to
personality and independence of character, shows an
individuality of inspiration (i Cor. ii. 15 ; i John ii.
20, 27) : sanctification, discipline, not doing away
with ; but more individualizing and developing
personal characteristics.
The conclusion to be arrived at with regard to the
renewal of our bodily nature is, — that all Scriptural
statements as to a Heavenly City, as to gardens,
fountains, musical instruments, songs, feasts, sitting
OCCUPATIONS HEREAFTER OF THE GLORIFIED, 371
down with the patriarchs, and having personal com-
munion with saints, — refer not to the corrupt and
sinful in us, but to that reality and substantial
gratification of every sense which will make our
future life that of which the present is but a shadow ;
that which will be as gold in comparison with present
earthly dross. The body, now dwelt in by the Holy
Ghost, is that which having been sanctified, and
changed from the mortal to the immortal, will be the
receptacle of Divine glory. Our Christian life, here
and in Heaven, in its effects, its fruits, its results, is
the sphere of God's blessed and blessing activity.
Our body being the Holy Spirit-bearing body, and
the Christ-redeemed body, in a pre-eminent sense,
will be the most abundant and many-sided life that
the universe knows.
" Jesu, Lord of glory, as we breast the tide,
"Whisper Thou the story of the other side."
St. John Damascene y varied by Neale,
II. The Enlargement of our Faculties
Will give Diviner strain to all we possess. God,
who gave Himself to us in Christ ; and Christ, who
was content to be in the world as we are, that the
consequences of sin might naturally, spiritually, and
inevitably work themselves out in our bodily nature ;
and the Holy Ghost who willingly abides in us that
our mortal body, soul, and spirit may be Divinely
quickened ; this sacred Trinity moulds us that we
may fill up in our body and soul that which remains
372 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of the sufferings of Christ for His people (Col. i. 24).
These various experiences make us nearer and liker
to Christ than are the angels (Heb. ii. 14-16) ; and
fit us by service on earth, done as it is in Heaven, for
that Heaven.
This means right instincts, right afifections, right-
mindedness, in perfect obedience. Plato speaks of
educating a child that as the mind develops it may
recognize the right reason of things by a certain
inner kinship, and welcome truth as a friend. Moderns
teach that schooling, in the best sense, signifies sub-
mission of the mind that its own individual tastes
may be subjected to that abnegation, out of which
springs whatever originality is worth preserving.
This disciplined subjection makes believers, every
one different, all alike accept the truth of the Creeds
with reverence and devout fear. Every one of us
says with St. Anselm (" Proslog," 4), " Good Lord, I
give Thee thanks ; because what first I believed by
Thy gift, I now understand by Thy illumination."
The Renewal of our Body, of our whole Nature,
and the Enlargement of our Bodily and Natural
Faculties, lead on to the View of ourselves —
III. Enthroned, Possessed of a Dwelling in New
Worlds, Occupied in the Transactions of a
Glorified State.
Every saved man having been on earth as Christ
was, will be in Heaven as Christ is. The purpose for
which Christ took upon Himself our nature was not
OCCUPATIONS HEREAFTER OF THE GLORIFIED. 373
to weaken any part that came out of the hand of
God, but to strengthen the whole ; and to fit it for
those occupations in which He now, as man glorified,
is engaged. Christ claims for His own and con-
secrates the whole of Nature. The artist will see, and
enable others to see more than they discerned before :
** God uses us to help each other so,
Leading our minds out.'*
The poet will interpret with more power, the
greater magic of the external world. Good men now
are a sort of conscience to their society, and keep
alive the love of worth. Where all are good, superior
character will be the perfected bloom which we shall
see and be glad of.
The Devil is to be cast down from all dominion.
The antagonism between the spiritual and the
material, between God's will and man's freedom, will
end in perfect reconciliation. God was the Author
of all that is ; He said, " It is very good ; " and it will
be restored good, in a better form. There will be no
annihiliation, but a vitalizing, an enriching. The
natural and the supernatural will stamp the whole
currency of Heaven ; and He who trained us to see
the shadow of things on earth, fitted us to see and
use and rule the reality in Heaven. The things now
in mystery, standing out then and there in clearness,
and our intelligence suited to apprehend them, will
be as ripened fruit for our enjoyment. Jesu,
** Lead us by Thy pierced Hand
Till around Thy Throne we stand
In the bright and better Land."
Baynes»
374 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
Three further reasons may be briefly urged to show
that the realm of souls, the kingdom of heaven in
glory, has all the apparel of a visible society.
I. Material.
There are many curious and beautiful symbols
beyond those of the Sacraments, of Holy Scripture,
of Public Worship, by which God binds His invisible
working to our own and His own outward and
material and visible methods. This consecration of
matter, as the vehicle of Divine Grace, is a vindica-
tion of matter : we see the material world rising
from height to height, fashioned by the Spirit of
God, and pierced in every part with a power of
transformation until man, chiefest of all, becomes the
Divine Dwelling-place. Our bodies, not less than
our souls, are being and will be transfigured to per-
fection. The spiritual is necessarily in the body, or
how could it be a power in our life and be the very
ground of our assurance as to the redemption and
sanctification of that body? As bread from the
earth, by Divine operation is no longer common
bread but Sacramental ; our bodies, through Christ's
indwelling, are no longer corruptible but sealed for
the Resurrection.
Christ, thus leading us ; fulfils, little by little, that
other task of preparing the heavenly period to perfect
the earthen. Our mansions will bring into regular
use "sensible objects, agents, and acts." They will
prove that we do right in holding firmly to the
OCCUPATIONS HEREAFTER OF THE GLORIFIED. 375
natural, that we may the better reach the spiritual ; and
that the whole temporal show has eternal significance,
is made up of parts fitted in symmetry, beautiful with
all beauty, a prophecy of the future. Gems require
setting, and careful guarding ; moral and spiritual
truths are to act on life, and this life has body and
members of which Christ, as the Head, will surely
take care. Brotherhood will not cease ; but the un-
certainties, sorrows, and perplexities of individualism,
escaping from divisions and despair, attaining unity
of knowledge, will find perfection of joy. All that
now, with coarse thumb and finger, we do amiss ; all
instincts, immature ; all purposes, unsafe ; will be
rectified in the new body. Our life, abstracted from
the body is immature while in the transition state of
hades ; and we cannot think of it, when we endeavour
to he accurate, our thoughts are deficient and ex-
pectant. The merely animal, fulfilling nought but
animal demands, is left behind ; and the moral and
the spiritual, even as now, is the great power in us ;
the five senses, shared in common with the brutes,
will be filled with pure energy like that of the angels.
We shall know, as never before, that the material and
visible is the organ and vehicle of the Divine; the
work of God's hand, which His hand blesses; in
which He works miracles, and which He consecrates
to infinity of use.
We may learn further lessons from the Sacraments.
They link material life and inward duty to form a
perfect man. " All human nature is not lovable, all
men are not love-worthy ; but Christ, who loved all,
376 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY,
gives assurance and example in these Sacraments of
what our nature may be made and will be made.
The Sacraments, in the elements apart from grace,
are weak and beggarly ; but with grace they are a
visible meeting-place of the eternal and the temporal,
of the invisible and visible, to form a materia! and
spiritual continuity of ourselves with the Lord, and
of the Lord with us.
" We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still ;
We drink of Thee, the Fountjain-head,
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill."
St, Bernard. Translated by Ray Palmer.
Enthroned, our original kingship, which was abdi-
cated by Adam, will not be limited to a Paradise, but
be a universal sway such as belongs to Christ ; and
to us, through Him, as a royal priesthood (i Pet. ii.
9) ministering and administering under God's Divine
sway, mingling and reigning with Christ as pait of
Himself, bone of His Bone, flesh of His Flesh (Eph.
V. 30). The banquets, the celestial wine (Matt. xxvi.
29) the hearing, speaking, singing with a great com-
pany (Rev. v. 9-14) ; our feeling, seeing, grasping,
smelling sweet odours, and the knowledge that
belongs to saintly fellowship (Rev. v. 8 ; xv. 2) ; show
that there will be the highest use and enjoyment of
all that belongs to the perfect man. In the varbus
worlds, replenished with new-made things and living
creatures, intense activity in doing the will of God,
will not weary nor waste us ; but be as food and
drink to refresh and nourish our whole nature with
sublimity of bliss.
OCCUPATIONS HEREAFTER OF THE GLORIFIED. 377
This includes all that rightly grows out of our
present intuitions, sentiments, memories, thoughts,
knowledge, skill. Wherein a man excels, he will then
greatly exceed ; not be less, but always more. The
careers of certain saints will be star-like, others shine
as jewels, according to their several ability. Every
grace and gift, useful attainment in art and science,
will be of nobler use and beauty. The learning, ad-
ministrative skill, which death took away, will be
restored in the new life. Every good beginning, not
completed through lack of opportunity, will be
brought to perfection ; the great being greater, the
good and happy better and happier ; tribulation
%\Vm^ way to a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. Small trials, rightly endured by those
whose greatest strength could bear but a small frag-
ment of the Saviour's Cross, will give right to a
crown and throne of beauty and honour. Those shall
be comforted and enlightened whose days were dark
and ways not plain. Meanwhile every Christian
sings —
** Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on ;
The night is dark, and I am far from home.
Lead Thou me on.
Keep Thou my feet ; I do not ask to see
The distant scene — one step enough for me.
* * I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on ;
I loved to choose and see my path ; but now-
Lead Thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will \ remember not past years.
378 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
** So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone ;
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile/*
/oAn Henry Newman,
II. Spiritual.
Hooker (" Ecclesiastical Polity," v. Ivi. 9), " Doth
any man doubt that even from the flesh of Christ
our very bodies do receive that life which shall make
them glorious at the latter day, and for which they
are already accounted parts of His blessed body ?
Our corruptible bodies could never live the life they
shall live, were it not that here they are joined with
His body, which is incorruptible ; and that His is in
ours as a cause of immortality, a cause by removing,
through the death and merit of His own flesh, that
which hindered the life of ours." We may add,
Christ entering us, soul and body and spirit, we are
irradiated and transformed into His own Body and
Life and Light. He is bringing us and the world
of physical nature out of discord ; into the harmony
of a universe perfected by Divine power, wisdom,
love, and binding it by chains of gold about the
throne of God. He is making us of nobler nature,
renewing, transfiguring ; the miracles are moral and
material, consecrating, sanctifying, elevating ; the
capacities of every man, that will, are made divine.
We will, therefore, even now be jubilant in all the
curves and circlets of life's activity. In our goings to
OCCUPATIONS HEREAFTER OF THE GLORIFIED. 379
and fro, onward and upward, one Spirit sways us that
we may be indefatigable in our heavenward flight —
** In pureness, righteous deeds, and toils of love,
Abidance in the truth, and zeal for God above."
Lyra Apostolica,
III. The Glory that shall be Revealed.
We wait for that till He come ; but it has a lasting
meaning in that perpetual insistance in our being of
mysteriousness, in those flashes and pulsations of life,
which enlighten the present with those grand truths
which raise us above low contentments. We are,
again and again, replenished with a power by which
we know, even when in darkness, that we are the
children of light going on to "completeness and
security and achievement and repose." Somewhat of
the everlasting freshness comes to us. Every sense
and all outward things, failings, vanishings, misgivings,
obstinate thinkings of more obstinate questionings,
shadowy recollections, are not moments breaking the
eternal silence ; they lead to a master light of all our
seeing, and make the present years a prelude of
things most wonderful.
These " shoots of everlastingness," supreme oppor-
tunities of our soul, lead to a stepping forward of our
thought, our life, our love. They are not only tokens
of the coming glory; not only the disclosure, the
assertion of God's presence ; but the witness that we,
ourselves, by Divine Help, have begun a work that
will be carried forward to sublime issues. The Spirit
38o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IMMORTALITY.
of God, claiming us for His own, renders us wholly
victorious, we are sure, by that which is astir in us, of
intenser life, brighter consciousness, of development in
this world and beyond it. A radiance will come, ever
steadier, more transforming, ruling and gladdening
us wholly. Our human faces will have more traits of
saintliness, our life more power of godliness, our
whole nature possess everlastingness. Perfect, fault-
less in body, in soul, in spirit, we shall stand before
the Eternal Throne. Toward this creation tends, it
is the goal of history, the fulfilment of prophecy, the
consummation and perfection by which God's work
in time, under whose outer semblance lay concealed
an inner glory, passes into the full radiance and
splendour of everlastingness.
** Lord of mercy and of might,
Of mankind the life and light,
Maker, Teacher, Infinite,
Jesu, hear and save.
** Soon to come to earth again.
Judge of angels and of men,
Hear us now, and hear us then,
Jesu, hear and save."
Heber,
INDEX
Acceptance of authority, 354, 362
Acquainting ourselves with what we
know, 299
Adam, the first and Second, 12, ^2 ^
not the first devil, 218
Adaptation of existence to state
and place, 50, 51, 102, 265, 278,
279
Advance, the process of our, 46,
81, 84; from rudimentary things
to knowledge of God, 69, 81, 88;
of science and crown of it, 289
Afflictions of good men, 336-339
Aiming at perfection, 25
Air, cubic inch of, 260
Anatomy of a carp's gills, 57
Ancients, the, 348
Angelo, Michael, 25
Angels, fall of, 203, 217
Angelus rector, 95
Animals, peculiarities of, 59
Anselm, St., 372
Answers to objections as to faith-
healing, 271-275
Anthony, St., fable, 200
Appearance, when, of man in nature,
309
Aristotle, as to dreams, no
Arnold, Matthew, quotation, 5
Arnold, Sir Edwin, quotation, I,
8, 188, 200
Artist, the Parisian, 70
Artists' work, 334
Assent of human will to Satan,
180
Atoms, 5, 6
Atonement, 138, 234, 246, 339,
349, 367
Augustine, St., quoted, 147, 224
Authority, primal, 351, 352
Bacon, Lord, on imagination, 241
Bain, Professor, Alexander, quota-
tion, 354
Bakewell, F. C, on future life, 121
Balance of our life, 20 ; poised with
reason, 49
Baxter, Richard, quotation, no
Baynes, quotation, 373
Bee and Newton" 58
Beginning of life, 89
Belief, fewer difficulties than un-
belief, 210 ; in demonology, 228
Bennett, verse, 344
Bentham, on conduct, 28
Beyond, being carried to the, 10
Biography of the Eternal, 79
Biology, 236
Bird's telescopic eye, 65
Blacklock, Dr., another sense, 113
Blind man not know his own limbs,
68
Boardman, Rev. W. E., testimony,
327
Body and mind interact, 92, 368
Body, natural and spiritual, 29, 91,
368 ; effect on the soul, 73, 74,
92 ; a garment of the soul, 73
235; complexity of, 235, 368
glorified, 369-^71
382
INDEX,
Bompard, Gabrielle, double ex-
istence, 195
Born, anew, 343, 368
Boyle, Archibald, fate of, 137
Brazilian forest, 238
Breaks in continuity, 90
Brougham, Lord, quotation, 119
Browne, Sir Thomas, quotation,
108, 113
Browning, Robert, quotation, 14,
181, 235, 325, 353
Buchanan, poetry, 161
Bull, Bishop, quotation, 123
Butler, Bishop, quotation, ill
Butlin, Rev. J. T., testimony, 327,
328
Butterfly, clicking, 240
Byron, Lord, quotation, 87, 119, 120
Carlyle, quotation, 24, 140, 175,
179, 233, 238, 366
Carp's respiration, 57
Celano's great hymn, 307
Challis, Professor, quotation, 77
Change, all-prevalent, 249
Character and Person of God, 80
Character, the most beautiful, 13,
360, 363 ; our, accompanies us,
102
Chemistry, 236
Christ, incarnation of, II, 35, 102,
238, 367 ; the most glorious
human being, 26, 31, 53, 86, 210,
238 ; ascension of, 32, 37 ; two
natures in one Person, 34, 35,
360, 367 ; Bread of God and
Manna of God, 35 ; centre of
attraction, 37, 342 ; our example,
53, 238 ; tempted, 142 ; explana-
tion, 142, 143 ; resurrection of,
I43j 359 > ^is work in Plis
people, 179, 185, 198, 238, 242;
the pacifier, 198, 226, 238, 246,
338, 349, 367 ; did not destroy
the swine, 226 ; crucifixion of,
not an unlooked-for result, 368
Christ and Satan, personal opposites,
141
Christian, a thinker, 238, 362, 363
Christian man and scientific man,
304, 305
Christianity greater than all inter-
pretations of it, 102
Christly perfection, 26, 53, 342
Churchy the, 347, 360
Cicero, quotation, xxxviii., 116
Classes of miracle refusers, 158
Cleland, John, quotation, 2, 15 1,
248, 366
Cleverness of the wicked, 180
Cohn, Professor, experiments, 331
Coincidences as to dreams, 112
Coming events made our own, 99
Compensations, 265
Complex processes of thought, 94
Concentration of all believers in
Christ, 267
Concentrations, 299, 305
Conditions for receiving power to
heal, 311-314; governing, 312,
313
Conflict of good and evil, 160, 249-
250
Confused movement of mind of the
age, 26, 28
Consciousness of the future, 87, loi
Continuity, breaks of, 6, 89, 90
Conviction of higher things, 10
Co-ordinations, 83, 94
Corsican brothers, 176
Cowper, William, quotation, 107,
139, 314
Cradle for our infant soul, 231
Creation, rudimentary, 92, 234, 251 ;
new, of a man, 343 ; restored,
373, 376
Creative advance, 251, 364
Credulity of the godless, 27
Curtains drawn, beginning and end
of life, 33
Cyprian, St., quotation, 369
Darkness and light for all, 39
Davy, Sir Humphrey, saying, 259
Dawson, Sir J. William, quotation,
27, 140
Day, an image of life, 59
Death, messenger with more life,
70, 93, 230, 232 ; of Christ, 246 ;
is law yet not law, 261, 262, 276 j
Degradation of Satan, 182
Demoniacs at Gadara, 155-157 ; not
the worst men, 193 ; their state,
194
Demon, the word, 202 ; use of
word, 202
INDEX.
383
Demons, subjects of Satan, 206
Demonology, belief in, 228
Denotements of high service, 37
Destruction, of swine at Gadara,
156, 219; of the swine, 226,
227 ; is for re-construction, 230,
234
Devil takes his pigs to a bad
market, 156 ; meaning of the
word, 184; not called demon, 188
Devils, nine sorts, 204 ; seven
entering a man, 2H ; prayed to
Jesus, 221
Die, all things, 233 ; nothing dies,
233, 234
Differences, how caused, 235
Differencing of operations, 21, 234,
235
Disease, sign of an invisible evil,
208, 275, 281 ; mental and
bodily, 222, 275 ; prevention and
healing, 250, 275-277, 301
Diseases, origin of, 293 ; brought
by civilization, 294
Divinations, 125
Divine human example, 24; idea
everywhere, 58 ; footsteps in
human history, quotation, 63 ;
love, the greatest power, 138 ;
healing, 234, 238 ; interference,
281
Divinity of Christ's Person, 34, 367
Doemas, scientific and religious,
3>» 352
Double existence, 195
Dreams, generally valueless, iii,
117, 122; not always resuscita-
tions of past thoughts, 112, 120;
uses of, 114, 116, 123 ; cause of,
116,357 ; are representative, 118,
126, 141, 357 ; some are morally
diseased, 122 ; touch-stone of
morals, 122, 147 ; in Scripture,
125-129, 133-135 ; mysteries in,
127, 357 ; Divine communications,
128, 129
Dryden as to dreams. III
Duty, sense of, 280
Duverney, the anatomist, 57
Earth in correspondence with its
parts, 59 ; the cradle of our
existence, 87
Education, 372
Effects, a mystery, 295
Elliot, J. A., hymn, 365
Engelbrecht, Henry, 358
Enlargement of our powers, ichd,
104, 105
Entering a new world is natural,
100
Entity or real essence of things, 16
Epimenides, the Cretan, 230
Epochs in our existence, 48
Eternal, the, a person, 80
Eternal things, certainty of, 9 ;
power is more than Nature, 21
Evidence, many-sided, 251-253,
345, 356 ; as to faith- healing,
286-292
Evil is temporary, 68, 164, 185,
253, 254; existences, 76, 162,
163, 181; One, the, 157, 162;
cannot be mechanically explained,
162; habit, form of, 180; like a
banyan tree, 188 ; origin of, 213 ;
physical, universal, 249, 253
Evils of society, '8, 253
Existence, missing the great object
of our, 47 ; adaptation of, 50,
51, 62 ; man's three modes, 71 ; a
cradle for our spirit, 231
Experiences, two, of the super-
natural, 84
Eye, wonderful, 27, 67
Eyes of insects, birds, men, 65, 67
Faber, verse, 185
Fable of St. Anthony, 200; Tal-
mudists, 203
Face-reading, 40
Faculties, our, correct and lead to
right use, 52, 100, 105 ; are God-
given symbols, 104 ; enlargement
of, 104, 105, 114
Failures as to healing, 263, 273
Faith, have, in our teachers, 43,
361 ; is great at present time,
149, 332; work of, 183, 273, 332 ;
practical science of the future, 362
Faith-healing, restrictions, 273, 278-
285; ceased, 274; not ceased,
274, 296, 301, 322-330; principles
of, 275-277 ; application of science
and philosophy, 286-306 ; not by
a new force, 290 ; things in mag-
3^4
INDEX,
netic state, 291 ; transferred force, 1
291 ; action or want of action,
292
Fall of spiritual beings, 203
Familiar objects, unknown, 61
Farrar, verses, 257
Fashioning of the life-force, 89
Favouritism, none with God, 283
Fellowship, necessity of our nature,
124
Fellow-workers with God, 29
Finite creature exceeds its finitude,
105
Flesh made a spiritual substance,
93
Fly's trunk, 58
Fontaine, dreamer, 331
Fool in scientific man's seat, 159
Footsteps of advance, 46
Force not known apart from matter,
17; a relative quality, 19; not
complete in itself, 19
Forces are not all interchangeable,
18,29
Foretaste, capacity of, 299
Forgetfulness as to dreams, 123
Fountain whence all flows, 21
Freedom, our, how it is poised, 49
Frog, hyla, chirping, 240
Froude, James Anthony, quotation,
15
Fuel of our fires, 66
Future for every man, 9, 14, 41,
88, 100, 105, 284, 285 ; co-
ordinate with the present, 49,
88-93 ; seen from the past, 89 ;
not wholly future, 98 ; not well
to know, 112, 119
Gadara, the demoniacs, two, then
one, 220
Garland, G. V., quotation, 208
Genius not by favouritism, 40 ; Sir
Frederick Leighton, 40 ; Sir John
E. Millais, 40; for religion, 57,
97, 358
Gennadius, a sceptic, 117
Glass, looking into, 27
Gleams of immortality, 56
Glory to be revealed, 379
God, a person, 14, 80, 124, 316,
317, 335» 347, 369 ; His love, 69,
70, 343 ; His work in our souls,
165, 316, 317, 343, 347; the
Great Physician, 277
Godhead, bodily in Christ, 34
Godson, Rev. John, 308
Going beyond ourselves, 84, Zd^ 90,
94, 340
Golden age, 9
Good and evil are fourfold, 161
Gospel as to demons, 205, 214
Gospel kingdom, entrance to, 44
Government of world, Divine, 15 1
Grades and differences in every
thing, 55
Gratry, quotation, 96
Gravitation in intermediate state,
75
Greatness of man, 308, 309
Gregory, Dr., as to dreams, 113
Gregory the Great, saying of, 97
Growth in grace, 37, 309-311
Guesses, false scientific, 5
Guidance to perfect condition, 26,
69, 335, 336
Hallucination of unbelievers, 363
Harbingers of a nobler science, 306
Hatch, Dr., hymn, 13
Haycock, Dr., dreams, 331
Healing, universal, 234, 238, 297 ;
in Old Testament, 252-255, 318 ;
in New Testament, 258, 264-
269 ; by Divine command, 264,
265 ; sciences, 295 ; process, two-
fold, 310
Healings, variously wrought, 243,
330, 331 ; are a symbol, 244
Heaven, what we mean by it, 241 ;
has the apparel of a visible society,
373, 376, Zll
Heavenly condition, 77, 232, 247 ;
city, 115, 232
Heber, verses, 378
Heidenhain, Dr., experiments, 303
Hell club, 137
Herbert, George, quotation, 23, 24,
30, 341
Herschel, his thought, 229
Higher life, 88
Highest mind, 86
History, universal, meaning of, 16,
86
Hood, Thomas, verse, 164
Hooker, quotation, 378
INDEX.
38s
Hope, a pledge of the future, 104
Human liberty, 49, 50 ; nature is
triple, 72 ; personality, 191 ;
nature not the source of evil,
218
Hypnotic state, 178
Hypocrite, state of, 212
Ideality, loi, 108, 130, 283, 287
" Iliad," quotation, 108
Image of the heavenly, 93
Imagination, a power, 302, 358
Imaginations, great and ancient, 12
Immortality, instinct of, 60, 99,
104 ; by natural process, 100,
lOi, 106 ; no earthly, 266
Incarnation of God, 11, 35, 102
Indications of a future, 52, 120
Individuality of man, 102, 189, 370,
Individual peculiarities, 102, 109,
278, 373
Infants represented in Christ, 309,
310
Infinitesimal vibrations, 105
Influenza, aftermath, 294
Inordinately wicked not always de-
moniacs, 194
Insect's microscopic eye, 65
Instinctive prescience, 118
Intellectual culture, %'}>^ 94? 287,
288
Intelligence presumes intelligence in
the Creator, 20 ; not a mere mode
of matter, 171
Interference with Nature, 106, 135,
276, 280, 281
Intermediate state, 75
Interpretation of dreams, no
Intuition leads to worship, 125,
288
Invisible influences, 91, 288 '
Irresponsibility, doubtful case, 195,
198
Jacob's dreams, 127
Jesus conqueror of death, 242, 255,
256 ; greatest healer, 258, 259 ;
makes men great, 310, 319, 333 ;
man and God, 360
Jews, as to demons, 206 ; possessed
by seven devils, 211 ; conser-
vators of the idea of sin, 349
Job, Book'of, 320
Joseph, husband of Mary, dreams,
135
Joseph's dreams, 128
Justice to material side 'of nature,
237
Keble, verse, 148
Ken, Bishop, quotation, 124
Kepler, a saying of, 95
Kingsley, Charles, on arguments,
159 ; quotation, 268
Knowledge grows as things grow,
59 ; advance of, 64, 88, 93, 94,
366 ; of the past and future,
82 ; of immortality, 119, 363, 366
Knox, John, 50
Krummacher, a legend, 131
Lacordaire, quotation, 360
Language, a symbol, 66 ; a shaper
ot knowledge, 85
Lapse of ages, not a weakening of
evidence, 356, 362 '
Lasserre, Henri, 324
Laud, Archbishop, 51
Lavalette, Count de, dream, 140
Law, extent of, 41, 47, 68 ; of sin,
184
Laws are providential, 68
Leadings on of Nature, 99, 100
Legion of devils, 220, 221
Lens, rise of, 267
Life, a pilgrim's progress, 7 ; a
book of immortality, 51, 99; of
three sorts, ^j-i^ ; only from life,
125 ; course of, mixed, 166, 245,
322, 332 ; made divine, 266 ; in
grades, 278
Life-germ, 89
Light and darkness for all, 39
Light, a shadow of the Deity, 67 ;
turned to darkness, 146 ; of a
candle, 251
Limitations of faith-healing, 273,
278-285
Line, cannot make one straight, 55
Linking of things, supernatural, 152
Living principle in the future, 76,
1 01
Lotze, Herman, quotation, 346
Love of God, 343
Luther, Martin, quotation, 123,
2 C
386
INDEX,
146; conflict with Satan, 182;
poor man, 339
*'Lux Mundi," quotation, 96
Lyra, Apostolica, 379
Lytton, Lord, saying of, 26
Man, the best, I, II, 26, 29, 314,
342 ; noblest time and work, 38,
93, 223, 314, 376, zn\ .as a
child, 42, 240 ; not an atheist by
nature or birth, 49 ; ever grow-
ing, 58, 189, 250, 348, 368, 371 ;
instinct points to immortality, 60,
91, 100, 231, 240, 309, 355; is
rudimentary, 92, 99-101, 103,
166, 242, 343 ; every, special of
his sort, 109 J measure of the
universe, 109, 308 ; epitome of
the universe, 187, 308, 309 ; fall
of, 187 ; ancient knowledge of
fall of, 187 ; enthroned, 376, 377
Marcus Aurelius, Emperor, saying
of, 60
Mastery given to few, 22
Material world, not the whole, 84,
91, 205, 207, 223
Matter derived from mass, 4, 21 ;
reduced to atoms, 5 ; not known
apart from force, 17 ; not com-
plete in itself, 19, 80, 92, 207,
222
Max Mijller, a saying of, 49
Mechanical force acting on homo-
geneous mass would not produce
properties, 19
Mechanism, central motor, 330
Melancthon, Felix, poetry, 72, 73,
77,83
Memory, reconstructed, 94 ; 334
Men, ungodly, miss great gain, 43,
44, 148, 283, 342 ; are souls made
visible, 62 ; a shadow of God,
98, 240, 241 ; good, God made
visible, 149 ; evil, Satan made
visible, 149; who overcome, 179,
273 ; in relation to two worlds,
216, 283, 288, 338, 345, 348,
3^9, 371 ; are not devils, 218 ;
possessed by spirit of swine, 228 ;
evil, their work and fate, 283-285,
289, 290
Millais, Sir John E. , on genius, 40
Milton, quotation, 86, 162, 202
Mind and matter, interact, 92, 121,
222, 287
Mind influences matter, 92, 121 ;
capable of immeasurable expan-
sion, 94, 231, 240, 247, 287, 314,
368, 373 ; as the magic eastern
tent and as a prison, 231
Miracle, what it is, 97 ; at bottom
of all things, 131, 281 ; not
separable from the doctrines of
Scripture, 155, 210
Miracles, not impossible, 259, 331
Mischances be made right, 44
Moberly, Rev. R. C, quotation, 345
Moment, every, a miniature of the
infinite, 106
Monsell, verse, 158
Moral sense not less a fact than is
intelligence, 20, 355 ; and physical
prophecy of our future, 104
Morley, John, foolish saying, 221
Morris, Rev. George, testimony, 327
Mystery of God in man, 35, 36,
371; in dreams, 1 12, 127; of
existence, 320, 338-340
Nations, the righteous, are strongest,
16
Naturalist's view of Nature, 103
Natural parables, 57, 160, 336 ;
production not a bolt shot at
nothing, 61, 167, 240
Nature subject to interference, 4,
106, 136, 166, 205, 260, 281 ;
not uniform, 6 ; departs for a
new beginning, 9, 60, 88, 251 ;
its poorest journeymen, 20 ; is
infinite, 59, 98, 103, 237, 251,
252, 260 ; a trinity of operation,
64, 81 ; as a whole and in every
part a miracle, 98, 131, 153, 237,
281, 317, 336 ; a time vesture
of God, 99 ; two sorts of powers
in, 204, 281 ; represents a greater
good and bad, 229, 281 ; to be
glorified, 247, 268; effort of, to
make Nature right, 302
Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, 134
Needle point, 56
Neglect of parental duty, 353
New birth, how effected, 36, 372 ;
fruits of, 36, 372
Newman, Francis, quotation, 377
INDEX.
387
Newton, Bishop, quotation, 120
Newton, Sir Isaac, a time-anni-
hilating man, 41, 58
Nothing lost, 88, 317
Objections, by unbelievers, are old,
226 ; and answers to faith-heal-
ing, 271-275, 328
Occult knowledge condemned, 145
Occupations hereafter of the glori-
fied, 366-380
Opposition to belief in Satanic exist-
ence, 224
Orderliness of Nature, 298, 300
Organs for successive phases of
exi!>tence, 118
Orwell, Bishop's Walk, 166
Overthrow of evil, 185
Painting, 256
Parable of God and Satan, 320
Parables, natural and spiritual, 57
Paradox, silence and sound, 239
Past and future made known by-
Christ, 33
Past is repeated, 81, 99, 334 ; not
wholly past, 98, 106, 334
Perfecting of Christ's human nature,
33. 36
Perfection aimed at, 24
Permanent reality, 12, 280
People who are not far removed
from the brutes, 97
Personal constituents in the future,
77) 93 ; rnagnetism, 86 ; prin-
ciples of evil, 162, 169-174
Personality of God, 124, 125, 320 ;
of evil spirits, 219
Phenomena are representative, 16,
58, 237, 356
Philosopher's view of Nature, 103,
236
Photographic camera, our, 27
Physical knowledge, 16, 249 ; life
acted on by demons, 199 ; evil,
universal, 249
Plato, quotation, 6"]^ 372
Pope, 'Alexander, quotation, 269, 3 19
Popular objections to faith-healing,
271-277
Possessed men, 155
Possession by demons, 186, 187,
192 ; three modes of, 189 ; not
same as temptation, 191 ; not
ceased, 195
Power, four aspects of, as to our
liberty, 50 ; in dreams, 1 12 ; unity
of, 280, 315-317
Practical art as to future state, 348
Practitioners in the divinity of hell,
^^
Prayer for amending of wicked men,
285
Prayers, answered and not answered,
282
Predicting future of individuals and
nations, 48
Prescience of future life, 117, 118
Present and future are co-ordinate,
49, -j^, 81, 106, 335
Present production ot the future, 95
Presentiment, 177
Pressel, quotation, 31
Prophetic states, 292
Prophets, their high place, 366
Protagoras, a saying, 109
Providence, selective, 22, 42 ;
general, 59, 91, 320; a super-
intending, 61, 68, 281, 335, 364 ;
particular, 74, ^'], 92-95. 320
Priest not make religion, 102
Procter, quotation, xxxviii.
Purpose of our life, defeating it,
the, 47
Quality, the essential, for a man, 48
Quarles, Francis, quotation, 176
Rag, use of it, 69
Raindrop, an epitome of worlds, 35
Realities greater than the present,
61
Reality of evil, 153 ; of our better
selves, 225
Reappearance of the past, 81
Reasons why the swine were de-
stroyed, 227
Redemption, 368
Reflection of Christ's character in
men, 14
Relativeness of all things, 6, 60,
106 ; of matter and force, 18, 19
Religion and science, no conflict, 2
Religion makes the priest, 102 ;
chiei fact in a man and a nation,
319, 363
388
INDEX,
Renewal of our nature, 367, 368
Resurrection of Christ, a fact uni-
versally connected, 359
Revelation, outer and inner of the
future, 97
Righteousness plucked out of sin,
95
Roses, variety of, 10, 168
Rudimentary teeth are relics, 42
Sacraments, 375
Sadducees rebuked for unbelief,
203, 219
Safeguards, two, against going
beyond our powers, 303
" Sartor Resartus," quotation, 140,
233. 366
Satan, why allowed, 146 ; enters
men, 147, 184; in personal oppo-
sition to Christ, 154, 214 ; mean-
ing of word, 163 ; cause of
persecutions, 164; nature of, 169-
174, 217; his power, 177, 183,
184 ; his men, 179
Satanic existence, 145, 154, 162,
166-169, 213, 217, 218, 224, 252
Saul's asses, 44
Saved men, glorified, 372
Saviour, great, needed, 214
Sayings, 166
Scenic mental images, 130
Schenk, verse, 175
vSchiller, quotation, 116, 222
Schmolk, B., quotation, 7
School of Satan, 143
School-men as to devils, 204
Science enlarges the meaning of
Scripture, 3 ; applied to sacred
investigation, 4, 83, 208 ; uncer-
tain and conjectural, 22, 20S ;
will never be rid of wonder, 57,
82, 208 ; of a future state, 345
Scott, Sir Walter, as to devil's
business, 188
Sears, a quotation, 71
Seeing the far-off and future, 27
Seen represents the unseen, 153
Selecting providence, 22, 42
Shadow of God, creation, 321
Shakespeare, quotation, 28, 48, 79,
87, 92, 146, 161, 163, 334, 354,
357
Sigourney, Mrs., quotation, 114
Silence and sound, 239
Simpson, Rev. A. B., testimony,
327
Sin from a supernatural source,
225, 281 ; unnatural, 281 ; and
death, 341
Sleeper, 295
Smellie, Wm., quotation, 148
Smith, Dr. W., as to dreams, 1 14
Solomon's dream, 134
Sortedness of life, 65
Soul feels and thinks apart from the
body, 118, 120
Soul's faculties are true and grand,
60, 251
Sound waves, 279
Southey, quotation, 15
Speaking with unknown tongues,
97
Speech, a symbol, 66 ; advantages
.of, 85
Spider, weaving, 59
Spirit, evil, not shut up, 181 ; in
waterless places, 212
Spiritual beings, two falls of, 203
^S/aw^ar^ newspaper, hypnotism, 191
Stowe, H. B., quotation, 62
Substances taking a new body, 94
Supernatural, two experiences, 84 ;
in contact with the natural, 151
Superstition as to dreams, 133 ;
guard against, 133
Superstitious men, 228
Supremacy of good, 167, 363
Swine-feeders' testimony, 157
Swine possessed, 219; destroyed,
not by Divine power, 226
Symbols, their meaning, 63, 65 ; of
immortality, 63-70, 320
Talmudist's fable of Eve, 203
Teachers, error of some, 61 ; theo-
logical, what they assert, 361
Telegraphy from worlds to worlds,
55 ; spiritual, 177
Temperaments in relation to disease,
198
Temple of Isis, inscription, 224
Tennyson, Lord, quotation, 177,
233. 249, 316
TertuUian, quotation, 147
Testament, Old and New, as to
Satan, 217
INDEX,
389
Theology made more accurate by
science, 2 j crown of the sciences,
361
Things act by Trinity of operation,
64; are emblems, 65, 314
Thought made vocal, 85
Three facts connect present and
future, 82
Thring, quotation, 285
Thunder psalm, 91
Time vesture of God, 64 ; meeting-
place of two eternities, 121
Trench, Archbishop, quotation, 159,
194, 202
Triple character of man's nature,
72, 374, 375
Trudel, Dorothea, testimony, 327
Truth better than error, 225 ; re-
ceived on authority, 354 ; in
Christ twofold, 362
Truthfulness of our faculties, 52
Truths, all bound together, 315,
317, 318; power of, 315, 317
Tuckey, Dr. Lloyd, statements, 324
Unbelief a vicioiusness of nature,
18, 148, 149, 363 ; destructive,
144, 148, 363
Unbelievers as to Satanic existence,
181, 222
Ungodliness, mystery of, 174
Ungodly miss many consolations,
43, 7>^Z
Uniformity not proven, 6, 281
Unity of evil, 225 ; of power, 21,
280, 315
Universalness of natural correspond-
ence, 106, 364
Universal tendency to the future,
97, 174, 238, 317; proof of
purpose, 364
Universe, the, not wholly mechani-
cal, 29, 305, 317, 364 ; a symbol,
64, 306, 316; a vital system of
living immensity, (id^ 174, 305,
364 ; God's suit of apparel, 103
Unknown tongues, 96
Unnatural exploits limited, 281, 282
Use of means, 277
Ussher, Archbishop, quotation, 278
Variety wrought by change, 249 ;
in earth and heaven, 280
Veil pushed aside, 88
Venn, Rev. Henry, 323
Victory of good, 30, 160, 165, 185
View of future from the past, 89
Villains of necessity, 341
Vine, a symbol of Christ, 35
Visible, is emblem of the invisible,
6, 45, 152, 160, 205, 207
Vision of God, 22, 317
Wandering is in relation to the not
wandering, 236
Warren, Rev. Albert, testimony,
329
Whewell, saying of, loi
Whitby, Dr., quoted, 21 1
Whitetield, George, quotation, 278
Wicked man, devil's palace, 212 ;
men, put to use, 281 ; are
haunted, 283
Wilberiorce, Canon Basil, 325
Wonderfulness of Christ, 52, 234,
361
Wonders, of science, I ; in common
things, 109, 160
Wordsworth, Wm., quotation, 95
Workers with God, 29, 337
Work, our, introduction to God's
work, 237
World, governing power, 15, 160,
235? 334 J ^ shadow of God's
light, 67, 321 ; this, and the world
complete, 165, 174; full of
romance, 176, 207, 223, 320,
334; to come, 230, 232, 234,
373 ; spectacle, 264 ; linked to
the indestructible, 300
Worlds not governed solely by
mechanical power, 17, 18, 79,
302 ; are to be permanent, 74,
230, 373 ; are means to an end,
102 ; two spiritual, 216
Writings in Nature, 252
Xavier, St. Francis, hymn, 209
Xenophon, quotation, 120
Young, Edward, quotation, 109
Young persons receive the truth,
354
Youngest day of eternity, 31
Zeno, as to dreams, no
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14 A CATALOGUE OF WORKS
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14 DAY U5E
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